


Guide My Way to You (Hiatus)

by OneLonelyWriter



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: (Unfortunate Hiatus), Alternate Universe - High School, Dark, Drama, F/F, I Tried, Issues, Mystery, Not surviving highschool 101, Slow Burn, Somewhat, The Gangs All Here, others make appearances
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-01-13 03:25:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18460484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneLonelyWriter/pseuds/OneLonelyWriter
Summary: Violet is in charge of guiding the new student, Clementine, around the school.But there's mystery around her, and Violet wants to find out who she really is.But at the same time, she has to deal with her own troubles.Can Violet and Clementine find solace in each other?





	1. Who are you?

**Author's Note:**

> Come one, come all! This story is a coping mechanism for 404. It's my first fanfic so I'd appreciate the honest feedback, and I just want people to enjoy and hope it helps. I have no schedule of updating. I have more ideas to come soon.

Violet absolutely hated her life right now.

No matter how distanced or aggressive or withdrawn she became, she was always in charge with Brody to guide the new students around Ericson's. It was never much fun spending like 2 hours of her time guiding around people who didn't want to be with her. At least, it got her out of class for the time being; nobody wants to spend time in math.

The new people were always rude, good-for-nothing assholes who usually ruined her day and ended up ditching the tour half-way through to go wreck something else. They then complained that they didn't know what to do or where to go, bothering her even more. None of staff helped them out either.

Even worse, Violet was always stuck with Brody, someone she could not longer stand. About a year ago, they had a major argument. It tore them apart. It was unfortunate, but they hung out in the same friend group and had the same classes, resulting in them always being together. It was tense and uncomfortable to say the least.

And now together, they were both walking side-by-side to the headmaster's office to meet the student. Brody seemed to have a skip in her step, while Violet was hoping the best for the lucky kid who had to spend their time in this hellhole.

Ericson's was not a normal school. It was for troubled youth, or as the people here say: A place to get rid of your rowdy kids. Sure, some actually needed attention and needed to get their act together. But, for most of the others, it was just a place to for them to be for parents that didn't know what to do with them. The staff nor the headmaster actually tried to chip in and help the kids. The best teacher here was probably the nurse, Ms.Martin, who some kids actually played sick just to see. Ericson was just a tough man who thought he owned the world, or the kids inside the school anyways. Everyone tried to avoid him as much as possible in these halls, as expec-

A knocking interrupted Violet's thinking as she saw Brody knocking on the office door. Violet dreaded having to go into the office and meet the kid.

* * *

 

There was some muffled speaking, which Violet assumed was a teacher and the new kid, then steps towards the door. The girls backed up a step. It opened up to reveal Lilly, one of the strictest teachers in school, standing there with a scowl on her face in the doorway. Violet now felt bad for the new kid.

Lilly slid over to allow the girls to step into the nice office, glaring at them all the while. Violet wasn't sure why she had a job here if she seemed to hate kids. Even so, it didn't bother Brody at the prospect of meeting a new person, excitedly entered upon being beckoned as Violet waited in the doorway for a moment before joining.

The office was spacious and warm. It was clean with a few posters here and there, with file cabinets arrayed in a row near the door. There was a wide window with the curtains drawn back, looking into the somewhat open courtyard and gate. Ericson barely ever occupied it, as Violet has seen kids sneak in here a few times. Sometimes she did it too. There was a file sitting on the desk, probably for the student. For a new person, it might feel inviting and like an actually decent school for once. But for everyone else, it was a death-room; a place where nobody wants to be called into.

Lilly cleared her throat as she walked back to the center of the room, looking at who they were suppose to meet.

The new kid turned to look at them under the brim of their blue and raggedy looking hat, torn at a few places with the 'D' slightly hanging off. She was sitting straight in the uncomfortable chair, her head hung high. She was wearing a gray denim jacket on-top of a gray hoodie. Her white undershirt revealing a recent scar on the top of her chest. The camouflage pants she wore tucking into her stylish combat boots. A black backpack, that probably was her belongings, sat on the floor. Her golden eyes peered at the two, with her kinda curly dark-brown hair brushing above them. She was quite pretty, very pretty. She wore a face of indifference, if not in the slightest, annoyance. Violet didn't blame her.

With now acquaintance, Lilly handed Violet the girl's file: filled with only a few pages. "This is Clementine. She's the new student here and I expect you two are here to guide her around." Looking between the two, Brody spoke cheerily.

"Yeah! We can take her around!"

"Good. Here's her file." She pointed to the file in Violet's hands. "I want you two to take her to the dorms and show her to her classes. Understand?"

They both nodded towards Lilly and the girl -or Clementine now- stood up to walk towards them, all of them eager to get out of the office. She grabbed her bag from near her feet and made her way over.

Clementine wasn't particularly tall. Maybe less than an inch taller than Violet. But she carried herself with some authority, gliding past Lilly. They glanced at each other for a brief moment before Clementine looked expectantly at Brody who took the hint. Finally, Violet huffed.

Opening the door, they all walked out into the lit hallways. All the kids were still in classes, or the responsible ones that didn't usually ditch, so they had pretty much free reign over the school for now. Brody talked animatedly about how Ericson functions at the front, while Clementine hung back a bit but still seemed to be listening to her. Violet watched her curiously, to see if she wanted to ditch or not, which she showed no signs of breaking away.

* * *

 

They walked through the cafeteria, the courtyard, the classes, the hallways, they even went to the basement; until they arrived at the dorms. The dorms weren't exclusively separated from the boys and girls, but they mostly left each other alone. It was a wide hallway, with a few faint painted over graffiti splattering the tan walls. The rug was a nice blue color, complimenting the curtains on the few windows. Some fake flowers sat on tables that were on the halls.

One of those flowers were knocked over and sat away from its designated table. Clementine, who noticed this too, walked over and picked it up. She set it back it up on the table gently, smiling very slightly.

"Oh Clementine-" Brody said, grabbing her attention, "This is... your dorm."

Violet looked over to see what room Clementine had gotten. And to her surprise, it was her room. "Well, guess your bunked with me." Violet said slowly in some annoyance.

Clementine caught it, scanning the door of the room then glancing at Violet. She stepped towards her hesitantly, touching her shoulder and sending her a smile. Violet couldn't help but smile back even though she wasn't exactly happy about having a new person in her space.

"I can try to move to a different room. Even though Ericson might not be fond of the idea." Clementine tilted her head, offering in her husky voice she hadn't heard before.

"N-No, it's okay. It'll be fine." Violet looked away from her, shaking her head.

"Are you sure? I coul-" Clementine got cut off by Violet.

"It is! It's just that I've never bunked with anyone here..." She quietly admitted, crossing her arms and going into herself.

Clementine slightly nodded, but motioned Violet to go in first just in case, asking for unspoken permission. Violet uncrossed her arms and pushed open the door into the dark room. Brody stood next to the door frame as Clementine walked in behind Violet.

The dorm room was unlit with the curtains drawn shut. No outside light came in, unless it was from the dorm hall. Clementine flicked on the light. A single bulb seemed to illuminate it which Clementine stared a  _Really?_ look at it. Violet looked at her, or now their, room and cringed at the mess it was, hoping Clementine didn't call her out for it. Thankfully, she didn't when she scanned the walled which were full of drawings. Violet pulled open the curtains to hopefully let some light in.

Clementine dropped the tiny black backpack she was carrying the whole time to the floor, rummaging through it. She pulled out a small picture frame and set it on the unoccupied desk. It was of her and a small kid with an afro, the latter which was smiling all goofy. 

Brody walked in and sat on the opposite bed of Violet's, watching the girls, then speaking up. "It's almost 1, we should be getting to lunch." She pointed to the digital clock on her phone. "All the kids are out and the gang must be waiting."

"Yeah, but uh-what about Clementine?" Violet pointed to the girl who seemed quite confused, "We can't leave her."

"Hmm." She tapped her chin in apparent thought. "Oh, I know! Clem, why don't you come sit with us at lunch?" Violet watched the girl to see her reaction to the nickname, to which there was none.

"What? With your friends?." Clementine seemed taken aback.

"C'mon..." Brody whined, "It'll be a fun way to meet people!"

She seemed unsure at the offer, considering it, until she reluctantly accepted. "Why not? I guess it could be fun."

Brody lit up for a second, perking up, "Alright. Violet-" She turned to her, mischievously, "I got to go get the boys from practice. Can you lead Clem to the cafeteria?."

"Huh?" It seemed harmless, but knowing Brody and herself, it was going to be a challenge walking around with a pretty girl.

"You up for it, Violet?" Clementines eyes seemed to light up.

"Uh, I mean- sure..." Yeah, real sure Violet.

"Great! It's settled!" Brody jumped up off the bed, ending her texting and putting away her phone. "See you later, Vi!" She yelled back as she dashed out of the room to wherever the boys were, leaving Violet alone with Clementine.

They both stood for a moment before Clementine turned, her golden eyes looking anywhere but Violet.

"So, where to now?"

Violet sighed, this was going to be a long day.

 

 

 

 

 


	2. What's the truth?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Violet and her friends can finally try to meet the new girl, Clementine, but the truth is hard to get out of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might have errors. So many notes, I know. But I just want to say thank you, even if it wasn't a lot. These chapters take awhile to make. I have summer coming up soon, so I'll be ready to write more with more time.

The walk to the cafeteria with Clementine was pretty uneventful. With a few glances and some awkward seconds of eye contact, they made it just fine through the halls together. Mostly talking about how Clementine is dealing with her situation, to while Violet could relate when she first came.

Throughout the maybe ten minute walk, Violet noticed a small limp in the way Clementine walked. Maybe it was her imagination since it was such a small difference and wasn't very noticeable. But the longer she looked, she could tell it was true. Deciding it wasn't worth the trouble of asking her in fear of breaking whatever contact she had with the girl, Violet brushed it off.

But with relative ease, or as much ease as dodging footballs thrown over their heads, they made it to the cafeteria doors.

Violet pushed it open to be greeted with a few lingering students inside, with her friends grouped up in the largest table. Most of the students were in their rooms trying to get whatever peace they could or they were outside trying to cause trouble. Not like any of that is new.

The cafeteria wasn't much to look at, bland like everything else in the school; plain walls, a few windows, horrible food that's probably poisoning students. There were few tables here, most of them pushed together for her group since they were the only ones who usually spend any time here. None of them get any food from the lunch line, and only a few of them actually ate lunch at the designated time. Everyone opted to snack in their rooms or in-class when teachers were doing their lesson; it was fun watching kids getting kicked out of the room for opening a chip bag and disrupting everyone.

After a few seconds of scanning the room, Louis -her maybe, unofficial best friend- saw them and waved them over with a shout.

Violet looked back to Clementine who seemed a bit nervous, but still stood by her side. She nudged Violet slightly, opting her to move and greet her friends.

Brody smiled at the scene of the two, Louis was grinning, the rest just kind of stared at them a bit trying to figure out what was happening.

Louis hopped up, throwing an arm around Violet's shoulders, speaking in that loud voice of his: "Hello, Vi! I see you brought a new girlfr-"

Yeah, he was cut off with a sharp elbow to the ribs and pushed off of Violet. Clementine slightly glared in his direction, a glare that only she could produce.

Louis got the hint whilst rubbing his side, "You're Clementine, right?" To which the indicated girl nodded. "Welcome to the gang!"

"Since you've already met Vi and Brodes, I think it's best to introduce you to the rest!" He smirked.

"That's Ruby-" He pointed to her, as she shyly waved at Clementine, who also waved back.

"-Aasim" He gave a nod, so did she.

"Omar" He looked up at her, but didn't really react. She shrugged.

"And, my best bud, Marlon." Louis hit his shoulder when he walked towards him.

"You'll meet the rest some other time, they aren't here now." Marlon explained, "But for now, you can stick with us."

Clementine, who has been completely silent, nodded towards Marlon and moved towards the table. Ruby scooted over for her, and having been given an offering, Clementine sat down nicely next to her. Violet looked to see Louis patting the seat next to him. She groaned but plopped herself next to him anyways.

After a few seconds of getting settled, Louis pulled out a tattered deck of cards and placed them on the center of the table. He grinned as everyone else groaned, pulling them out of the box and gesturing to Clementine.

"Want to play truth or dare?" Louis asked Clementine.

"With cards...?" Clementine pointed to them, and gave him a raised eyebrow.

"Of course! Here's how you play: you draw a card, and the person with the highest card gets the ask the person with the lowest card."

He continued," But since we all know each other, the person who gets the highest card asks you a question." To which everyone but Clementine nodded.

"Wait. What if I win?"

"You can ask us a question, since you're new and all!"

With some hesitance that might've been from the nervousness of Louis wrath,  _who knows?_ , she accepted the card handed to her.

On the count of three, everyone flipped simultaneously. Clementine got the lowest while Marlon got the highest. He looked to her and examined her for a second before asking, "So why were you sent here?"

Keeping her cool, Clementine responded," I got into a few fights. Did some things I shouldn't have done." She looked down as if guilty but her expression didn't change.

"You? Fighting?" Louis looked pointedly at her. 

"Yeah."

"Really?"

"Yes. Want me to show you?" She playfully threatened him. He rose his hands in defense of the tiny girl.

"Nah, I have no doubt you'll kick my ass." He joked back, "You'll be the next Ruby."

Clementine looked at Ruby as the girl hit her shoulder, laughing.

"She used to chase staff around with objects she'd find." Marlon snickered.

"I could totally see it." Clementine smirked at her.

"Be careful. I might use it against you." Ruby smiled.

Everyone chuckled at their banter, Violet joined in as she was quite amused.

They continued playing a few rounds. Asking dumb things like hobbies, classes, crushes -which resulted in a nice bruise for Louis from Ruby-, embarrassing stories, so on. It wasn't much, just a normal game they played. They found out that Clementine has some connections with a few of the teachers and coaches here, as she plans on playing a sport here. And to Violet's dismay, it was baseball. Ugh. Within the final round, Violet got the highest and Clementine got the lowest.

"So uh, who brought you here? Like what family-" Violet looked to see Clementine with her eyes slightly widened and her mouth set in a thin line. She wanted to backtrack with immediate regret of asking, but continued, "Do you have any family?"

"Tch, not family anymore." She spat. Everyone was a little shocked.

"Wait, Clem? What, do you not like your family?" Ruby butted in.

"Not really." Clementine spoke and glared at the table.

"Why? What-"

"Nothing... We just aren't on the best of terms." She revealed.

"What happened?" Louis pressured her.

"I'd rather not talk about it." She growled.

"But-"

"Just some bad things happened. That's all." 

Marlon took the sign to let her go and made everyone stop asking her about it. The talk about her family seemed to make her quite upset. Very upset.

Everyone looked at her; either curious or concerned, while Clementine sort of shrunk into herself. She stood up after a few tense minutes, even with a few protests and apologies, and with a slight goodbye and something about a kid; just walked out.

Attention was turned to Violet, who looked very guilty on her end. She stood up as well, "I'm going to go and try to find her."

She rushed out of the cafeteria with everyone looking at her retreating form.

She needed to fix this.

* * *

 

Violet was in the middle of the courtyard contemplating on where Clementine could be. Not knowing her very well, and Clementine not really knowing her way around the school, it became a lot more difficult. She searched everywhere that her and Brody had shown her just a few hours ago, to where she didn't turn up.

She checked the dorms, their room, to where she wasn't. Nothing was moved, indicating she hadn't been here or around here at all. It all dusty and messy the way they left it when they went to the dorms. She looked at the picture of Clementine with her small kid, they both smiled brightly.

Violet thought back to Clementine saying her goodbye, saying something about a kid.

Was he here with her?

Well it didn't really matter if she couldn't find her. Violet kept searching for awhile, luckily the day was ended and there was no more class. Barely anyone was in the halls anymore. They had all gone into their rooms after classes, burnt out of the mountainous homework they usually received. Violet was glad she was able to skip today when she had to guide Clementine around the school, it was much more fun.

Violet was just about to give up her search in hopes that Clementine didn't get lost and just returned back into their room later. Until, she heard a familiar husky voice talking to someone. It was in the door down the hall, she started walking towards it until she heard another familiar higher-pitched voice. She realized, it was in the room she barely ever went into; Minerva and Sophie's room, the twins.

Violet and Minerva have had bad blood for the past year after their breakup when something went down with the twins. Minerva blamed her and Brody, and honestly, Violet blamed herself. Sophie tried to be a peacekeeper, always the nicer twin sister, but to no avail. They started to avoid each other and the situation just kept getting worse and worse until the two and their brother, Tennessee, left the group altogether.  But it was no use to dwell on it, she wanted to make sure Clementine was okay.

Swallowing whatever regret she felt, Violet opened the door to Clementine and Sophie -luckily with no Minerva present- talking together while Sophie drew. Tennessee, their young brother, playing with the kid in Clementine's photo on the floor. They all looked peaceful.

 But soon, they all looked up at her from the distraction. Clementine and Violet locking eyes. She nervously shuffled in the doorway, now regretting once again, walking into the room. Too late now. Violet broke the awkward silence:

"Hey, guys."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to add another chapter quickly because it's the weekend. I'm not sure how much I like this one... I have school, so might update maybe once a week. Sorry! But as a side note, I don't feel strongly on my dialogue, I'd appreciate if you'd tell me how I did! Hope you enjoyed reading!


	3. What problem?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Violet has to relive the past year, something she never wanted. Clem is there to help in her own way.

The air was suffocating. It was tense and gloomy; even in Sophie's bright and colorful room. The pictures of cute animals and nice landscapes hung around unnoticed as Sophie looked at Violet. She could feel her eyes boring into her, though it wasn't in anger. It was brightness and forgiveness. Somehow that was even worse.

"Vi?" Sophie questioned. Violet no longer came here, at least not for the past year anyways, after everything happened. Especially Minerva.

  _Hateful,_ that's what Minerva became.  _Violent,_ the charming girl now acted as a caged beast.  _Different,_ she was no longer Minnie. Violet had to remind herself over and over that Sophie was different from her twin, that she didn't resent Violet the way Minerva now did. Or maybe she did. She didn't show it.

Her long red hair was different from Minerva's combed-over buzz-cut. Sophie always was expressive, easy to read as an open book; Minerva was more settled and reserved. Sophie was artistic with her colors and pictures; Minerva had a lovely chilling voice. Sophie dressed warmly; Minerva always wore her dark fur coat. They were different.

Violet had these thoughts racing through her head, trying to calm herself down in the presence of Clementine and Sophie. Two people that she believed she wronged.

"What are you doing here?" Tennessee's calm and usual nervous voice broke through.

"I came here for Clem." Her voice wavered and she internally winced for saying she was here for the new girl and not Sophie or Tenn.

"What? Why?" Clem raised a brow, while the young afro-haired boy looked questioningly at her.

"I just... wanted to make sure you were okay." She rubbed her neck. Sophie watched the two curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, after the game, you kinda-"

"Oh! That.", She waved a hand dismissively, "Don't worry about it."

"But you seemed-"

"It's fine, Vi," Violet wasn't sure why she enjoyed being called Vi by Clementine," I found AJ anyways."

"AJ?"

Clementine gestured to the young boy with the afro who could couldn't be more than six. AJ glanced at Clementine, then Violet, and slightly raised a hand in what she considered a wave.

She did the same back to him.

Within a beat of silence, Sophie cleared her throat to get their attention.

"Well as you can see, Clem isn't dead yet," She received unamused gazes to which she chuckled," I was just meeting her."

"She was interested in joining a sport."

"Gross." Violet muttered. Sophie smiled as Clementine glared.

"Hey!"

"So Clem, what did you have in mind?" Sophie turned her attention back to Clementine.

"Baseball, don't you have that?"

"Yeah! We can try to talk to Coach Javier tomorrow after class."

"Even more gross..." Violet butted in once more.

Sophie smirked at her, "What... Afraid you'll never be as good as him?"

"No!" Violet's voice raised a pitch.

A little bit of banter later and Sophie stopped teasing her, opting to keep talking to a person who actually knew what the hell they were talking about. Violet stood there for awhile as the girls continued their conversations about sports. Violet definitely didn't feel as if she could join in. What was even half the stuff they were talking about? Like she knew.

Violet instead watched the who young boys who were drawing on the ground. Tennessee and ,now known, AJ doodled on small scraps of sketchbook paper that were probably from Sophie's things. Tenn drew what seemed to be a whole bunch of people who stood together in-front of a cabin or forest, it looked happy as all the characters were smiling. AJ drew what seemed to be a few blobs of what were suppose to be people, it was colorful though, with colored pencils stashed next to the paper.

Looking outside, Violet saw that the sun was already setting and was the late start of night. The digital clock on the nightstand said it was around 8pm. Minerva who she had expected before, still hadn't shown up, bit she didn't want to take her chances. No use in creating an awkward situation even more unbearably awkward.

Violet walked over and touched Clementine's shoulder. "Uh, oh... well Clem... It is kinda late. Maybe we should head to the dorm."

Clementine looked over at the clock as well, seemingly contemplating it. But with sharp eyes, she sensed Violet's unease and stood up.

Sophie also seemed to know what was going on as she didn't protest like she usually did when meeting a new friend.

Tenn and AJ just looked amongst them.

Reaching over, Clementine grabbed AJ's hand and pulled him up, "Come on, kiddo. It's getting late."

"Oh, sure thing. Clem-meet me here tomorrow so we can get signed up for sports." Sophie explained.

"Sure, after class?"

"That's fine by me."

"Bye, Clem, Vi, AJ." Sophie smiled sweetly and waved goodbye.

Tenn and AJ waved to each other as well as the three set off out of the room.

* * *

 

When they closed the door behind them, Clementine turned to Violet still holding AJ's hand:

"I need to go drop AJ off by his room. Wait for me?"

Violet looked down the hall to their room, then past Clementine to the other dorms,"Yeah, no problem."

"Cool. See you then."

Clementine walked away with AJ in tow. Violet watched their forms then went to the doorway of their room when she couldn't see them anymore. She closed the door behind her, walked inside, and flopped onto the bed. Setting on her headphones she played some music and closed her eyes.

Only awhile later she heard a loud crash. By the looks of the clock, it had only been about an hour. Where was Clementine?

Her question was answered when she rushed out the door.

She was greeted to the sight of two girls fighting in the darkness. One pushed onto the floor leaning against the wall, arm over the flower table -which the flower was down the hall now-, the other hovering over her in a battle-ready stance.

Violet couldn't believe who it was: Clementine and Minerva.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter?! This is because I have a bit more time to spare. Hope you enjoy, and real drama will start to unfold. Also, this one is a bit shorter. See you in the next update!


	4. Where's the fight?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the threat of suspension hanging over her head, Clementine must find a way to keep her place at Ericson's after her fight with Minerva.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new chapter, yay! Ok, for real though, while I'm writing this I just listened to "Take Us Back". So, I'm still considering it a comfort fic for broken hearts. Almost a month already without her... Word of advice: Never write when sad, it just hurts. Sorry. Just enjoy the new chapter. Sorry for errors.

Clementine sat in Ericson's office, slumped over and curling in on herself. Her elbows rested on her knees as she sat in the edge of the uncomfortable chair. Violet sat beside her, looking out of the opened window; her leg was bouncing with agitation and her arms were crossed.

Clementine looked out the window as well to see what she gazed at. It was dark out now. Few stars were visible and the moonlight barely shone in through the window. It was as if everything was just gloomy, perfectly representing the mood of the atmosphere and her herself. She didn't want to think about it, instead opting to look around the spacious (which now seemed cramped) room.

Clementine saw her and Violet's folder sitting on the polished wooden desk, closed. Violet's folder seemed considerably larger than hers, but that was understandable. No main staff were in the room with them, and the ones who had escorted them there were long gone. Some papers were strewn across the floor as staff furiously looked through them to get to their folders, haphazardly closing them with a loud bang.

The headmaster, Ericson, was currently down the hall in the room where Minerva resided. He had been called at in the late night to drive back over to the school and deal with this matter himself. Obviously, he was not happy at all. The staff not trusting them to not lunge at each others throats again. They'd be right. Clementine certainly didn't want to see the girl's face anyways. And she was sure Minerva felt the exact same.

She felt bad for having the others having to intervene. Specifically Violet and Sophie.

* * *

 

_Two girls were staring each other down in the dark. One propped against the wall, her arm slung over a table where a flower had been knocked away. The other hovering intimidatingly over, in a battle-ready stance._

_Violet had slammed open her door, looking at them. Other girls also opened their doors quickly to see what had happened._

_Fights were common and often talked about around school. But they were never actual fights. It was always just trash talking, maybe a push or scratch here and there. To see an actual fight, where they had been damaging each other and leading to disaster wasn't common. It surprised those who came to witness._

_Several of those girls had pulled out their phones and used the flashlight to shine it on them. It was Clementine and Minerva._

_Clementine was the one who was against the table, sporting a gash above her eyebrow and a few already darkening bruises even in the shadows of night. Her face showed hidden anger, but also still had calmness to her demeanor; almost like she was quite used to this._

_Minerva was over her, her knuckles bloody but definitely not from just hitting Clementine. She had a busted lip, small drops of blood dripped down; a stream of blood came from her nose. It seemed Clementine was the harder hitter. Minerva's face showed just pure hatred and anger, her bright blue eyes now like slits and dark._

_Brody, who was one that used her phone light, shined in on Clem's face. She didn't look over to Brody, instead not giving in and staring straight at Minerva. Brody felt her anxiety rising: out of fear for her friend, and out of fear of what they both might do to her._

_Ruby had her mouth agape, staring in shock. Her hands lightly covered her mouth and her body was rigid._

_Sophie, who had long since said goodbye to Tenn, stared at her twin. She looked at her disheveled red hair, and the dark wild look she had in her blue eyes. Sophie was pissed that her sister had caused trouble once again, and especially since it was with Clementine. The fur coat Minnie wore was slipping off her shoulder, and she very luckily didn't see the pocket knife that Minnie usually carried with her. Sophie didn't want to imagine that situation._

_Violet looked between Clem and Minnie. Just for half a second, Clem glanced to her then right back on Minnie. Violet's heart raced as she wanted to know what the hell had happened between the two. And by the looks of it, it had to be a serious conflict to result in such a fight between them._

_Minerva, even with the audience staring at them in horror, didn't seem done. She positioned herself straighter and walked a few steps towards Clementine. But without warning, she was pushed back roughly by pale hands. She looked up to see Violet now in from of Clementine who looked up at her._

_Violet and Minerva locked eyes. Blue glaring into green. With a small smirk, Minerva towered over Violet by a few inches. Looking down at her, both standing only an inch or two apart. Minerva draw a clenched fist back, and was ready to let it fly; only to once again be tackled with a harsh thud to the floor._

_Clementine had gotten slowly off the floor, and pounced once she saw Violet in danger. Clementine sat atop her, pinning her shoulders to the floor. Minerva struggled a bit before she twisted, now her onto Clementine. She held her wrist up and with another hand, she tried to punch Clementine once more. Clementine had loosened her lower half from Minerva's pin and reared her leg up to kick Minerva's hip. It worked, and Minerva's hand grip had loosened considerably on her wrist. Clementine pushed her leg up once more and managed to get her foot into Minerva's stomach, completely kicking her off._

_Clementine snapped up off the floor and shoved the standing Minerva into a wall. Her arm held onto her neck into a choke-hold. Minerva's legs under her were slightly crouched, bringing her and Clementine face-to-face. Violet came forward after a few moments and placed a gentle hand on Clem's back, and another on her shoulder. A calm way of saying to let go._

_But with a flood of light, the main door burst open to reveal a few of the women staff pounding towards them. Overnight staff. They, of course, saw Clementine pinning Minerva against the wall with Violet holding Clementine. They had stormed towards them, shooing everyone else away and back into their rooms; grabbing Clementine, Violet, and Minerva roughly by the arm._

_They had paced to the offices: throwing Violet and Clementine into the headmaster's office, and had Minerva thrown into another room down the hall._

* * *

 

Now the two girls both sat together in the dark room, awaiting the arrival of the person who would give them their punishment.

Some tense moments of contemplating and thinking later, Clem turned to Violet: "I'm sorry you were involved."

Violet sighed, "Yeah. It's okay. I've dealt with these assholes before."

"Oh, have we now?" Violet noticed the large smirk imprinted on Clem's face. She chuckled slightly.

"Yup. Vandalized and broken into things."

"Hmm, really?", Clem looked over to Violet and smiled,"Sounds more like a Louis thing, if I'm honest."

Violet rolled her eyes,"No. His is to be deathly annoying."

Clementine and Violet laughed together. Small chuckled turning into full-on laughter.

"So, what do you think I was sent her for?", Violet voice was curious, but she was worried for the answer.

"I'm not sure. Maybe... defiance?"

"Tch, kinda." Violet grinned, "But we know why you were sent here, don't we?"

"All in a days work of being a badass, Vi." Clementine finally leaned back into her seat with her hands propped behind her head.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yup."

"Even getting into fights with Minnie?" Violet regretted those words as soon as they came out. She saw Clem peer over, and her smirk now turned into a frown.

"It wasn't my fault. She-" The sound of a door banging open cut off Clementine as both the girls jumped.

Ericson walked into his office, looking tired and angry. He closed the door behind him and walked to the desk. He glared at the girls, holding a paper and scanning it over. He sat down on his big, comfortable chair and placed his folded hands on the desk after he set the paper down to the side.

Both the girls glanced at each other, silently praying for the best, and looked back towards the fuming headmaster. Ericson looked at them, and spoke.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, you made it! Also, I can't write fight scenes. Writing takes so much time, but I really just want to get stuff out there for people like me who want this for comfort. I hope soon that there will be many more new writers and fanfics. This fandom is honestly amazing. Please tell me how well I did, what you want to see, how much you love Clem. I'll be writing over the weekend so expect a new chapter soon; either it be for this or for my new story.


	5. Whose misery?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for being gone a month, but other stories have come up, y'know. But good news; while I was gone (though I never stopped writing) I've improved a bit, since I'm still kinda new to it all! Hope you enjoy the somewhat better quality and new chapter.  
> 

It was now early morning, and without even a proper wake-up, Violet and Clementine were instantly thrown into the "death room". They now sat staring down Ericson.

Ericson, the headmaster of this school. Clementine, the girl who had caused trouble in twenty-four hours. Glaring each other down as the higher of the two discusses what punishment will be received for the two girls who are sat unwillingly inside the office.

Violet isn't quite sure if she's suppose to applause or scrutinize this behavior. But what did she expect; it's a school full of "troubled" children. She isn't exactly mad at Clem for fighting Minerva, she's been quite the thorn in her side for the past year anyways, but she wished Clem would tell her what made it happen.

It was scary watching the two titans, both of unwavering strength and dominance, clash and have an actual battle. Fights were common, but they were always cat-like scratching and slapping, utterly pathetic for the girls. And for the boys, while it more more common and physical, it never included much blood, real hatred, or intense punches that could knock someone down in a hit. It scared Violet more than she liked.

Violet liked to think that she was more unemotional, but being pinned against the wall and basically caught in the middle of the fight... She wasn't sure what to feel.

"Vi."

She hoped it evolved into nothing more than a one time thing; but if a one time thing could quickly turn into  _that_  then she knew she had to prevent it. Even if she barely knew Clementine, she would still be Violet's roommate which means she'd have front line access to see what type of damage the girls could do to each other if it was a common occurrence.

"Violet."

Violet snapped her head up to meet the stares of the people in the room. Clem's was concerned, Ericson's was stern and pissy.

"Do you know what happened? Or what caused the... incident?" Ericson peered at her, searching her intently if she tried to lie. Clem looked a bit worried at what Violet might say, so instead she opted for the truth in a quick "No."

"Really? Clementine here says-"

"-That that psycho bitch started it!" Clem exclaimed in distress at Violet. She quickly turned back to Ericson, "Listen to me, I just went to go talk to the weird coach-"

"Coach Javier." Ericson interrupted. Yeah, him. Violet couldn't blame Clem for calling him weird, he kinda was. There was a rumor going around that her was cheating with his brother's wife while he had a boyfriend. Also the fact that he used to be a big baseball player who got kicked out for gambling; no wonder the only job her got was teaching a dumb boarding school. Yeesh.

"Yeah, whatever- And Minerva was in there with me. I guess I interrupted her or something while I asked what I could do to him. I had previously played softball in my old school and was a team leader and he saw that on the extra files or papers or whatever. He said I could try to play that role once more and see how I do."

Oh, that makes sense. Violet remembered Minnie was team leader of the softball team here, and told her before they had an outing that if the team continued to succeed that it could lead them recognition and hopefully get her out of here by a scholarship or something. Violet didn't remember the specifics and never really cared much for baseball or any sports, but she could always tell she'd get super excited about it.

Clem continued, "Minerva stood there with us the whole time, glaring at me I guess, and when I walked out she just completely changed from the quiet girl to an angry brute. She just started to... attack. It'd stop then escalate until we got to the girl's dorm, where I started to fight back."

"And Violet intervened?"

"Yes, I did. At least until the staff came and Minerva reverted back into... herself." Violet butted in. For the sake of Clem and herself, she hoped Ericson didn't just brush them off.

Violet always noticed quick changed of demeanor around Minnie. It was common. Sometimes too common, part of why she broke it off with the girl. It had been turned against her too many times, it was scary. It was even more scary to think that the person who had close relations and would never think to hurt her, would do so just as long as she hit the wrong switch accidentally.

Violet couldn't handle that.

"I see. Well, I talked to Minerva, and she vaguely told more or less something of the same thing. But instead of trying to crack this mystery, we're just going to separate you three for awhile."

"Separate?" Violet and Clem questioningly asked simultaneously.

"Yes. I'll be calling your guardians to remove you three for a short span of time so we can figure out new arrangements. Don't worry. It's only for a few days, then you three will return back and hopefully not get into anymore trouble." Ericson glanced pointedly at Clem with that last part to which she shrugged.

Violet didn't feel very comfortable going back to her trailer home, much less back to her parents. She remembers her mother calling saying she had "broken up" with her father, keeping whatever she said to Violet quite vague. She's certain that her o'dear hard working mother would not appreciate getting called saying Violet's even more trouble and needs to be sent back, however long or the context. It didn't matter to her. She could see the disappointment on her own mother's face.

Clementine didn't seem to be doing much better either. She had shifted uncomfortably at the thought of parents and Violet remembered the venom she spat whenever she spoke her parents, or her family's, name. The only exception seemed to be her kid, AJ, who was with her.

Ericson looked at the two girls, before opening each file (whose Violet's was significantly much larger than Clementine's) of the two owners, and skimming through them as the girls digested the information. He put Clem's file aside and pushed Violet's folder into the center of the wide desk catching said girl's attention.

"For you, Violet, I'll be calling your mother to come pick you up tonight. But let this be said...", Violet looked into the eyes of the headmaster whom she resented as her spoke with a serious tone, "You will be returning here in a few days. Do not treat this as a vacation, and merely as a merciful suspension."

That's alright. She could deal with suspension, not like she actually wants to be at this stupid boarding school. He turned his gaze to Clementine who watched Violet intently, sitting stiffly and glaring at the headmaster with her head lowered.

With a careless hand, Ericson waved towards the door, "You are dismissed Violet. I need to keep Clementine."

Violet deftly got up, mouthed a small sorry at Clem who nodded, and exited the room. Minnie didn't seem to be out of wherever she was as she could hear some muffled speaking and classes didn't start nor would anybody come near the staff offices. Seeing nothing to do, she decided to just head back to the dorms. Maybe catch up on some sleep, skip a few morning classes. Yeah, sounded like an ideal day after the past day and a half.

* * *

 

She entered the dorms to almost instantly crash into Ruby and Brody. Quite literally, Ruby and Violet ended up bouncing off each other.

"Oh, Violet! Didn't see you there!" Ruby piped up after recomposing herself quickly.

"No shit."

Brody rolled her eyes at the two, her expression morphing into one of concern and curiosity, "So what happened? Where's Clem and Minerva? Are they still back at the offices, getting whatever punishment?"

"What does it matter?" Violet bitterly muttered.

Ruby frowned and Brody looked down guiltily, "Vi..."

"Apparently, we're getting a sort of suspension. They're calling our parents to come take us out of the school while they make new 'arrangements'".

"Lucky!" Brody exclaimed.

"Not so lucky", Violet shut her down, "At least you guys won't have to see the disappointment on your mother's face." God, Violet really didn't want to deal with that. She had been here for years already with barely any visits or freedom. Why couldn't she just get a slap on the wrist like she usually does when causing trouble? The world wants to torture her.

Violet looked away, regretting saying anything. Brody and Ruby shared a glance, before Ruby lightly patted Violet's arm, "I'm sure it will be fine and all work out soon enough."

"Yeah..." Violet drawled out, but changed the subject, "So what are you guys doing out here?" It didn't make much sense for anybody to be out this early morning, unless getting punished of course.

"Oh! We were looking for you or Sophie."

"Sophie?" Violet couldn't recall Sophie really getting involved, besides trying to talk down her twin sister.

"Yeah, she ended up following with Minnie after you guys were dragged off."

Obviously Sophie would go comfort her sister, she's just like that. Though, even with her panicked mind, she didn't see Sophie trailing behind to come with her sister. Or if the staff allowed her, but she wasn't here either. Violet hoped she didn't get punished either, but... No, maybe go check on her? 

Violet shook her head and looked over there shoulders to her, and now Clem's she guessed, room as she reminded herself of what she should be doing. "Oh. Well, I should be leaving later tonight. So... I should really go, y'know... pack." Violet ended awkwardly.

Brody stepped up, "Sure thing. But if you see Clem, give this to her."

"Uh, okay. What is it?" Violet rose a suspicious brow.

Brody didn't answer, instead pulling out a raggedy blue Diamondback (Violet totally didn't look up the logo for Clem's sake) hat. Now that she thinks about it, it didn't return with her when Minerva and Clem were fighting. It might've been knocked off before but it didn't seem like Clem would just let it lie away from her on the ground, being attacked or not.

Violet looked back up to Brody and carefully took the hat, and they nodded to each other before they walked past through the hall. Violet heading to the dorms, Ruby and Brody going wherever.

Violet opened the door, placing the hat on the nightstand where the picture of Clem and AJ were and threw herself on the covers. She wanted to sleep this away. So she did. Violet didn't even bother pulling up the covers, just set her phone on an alarm for late morning and closed her eyes. Quickly, sleep took her as exhaustion set in.

* * *

 In what seemed like moments, a door creaked open with Violet being the ever light sleeper woke up. Clementine looked at her with a sheepish smile, and with sad eyes, "Uh sorry. Did I wake you?" Clem walked to her bed and looked over her shoulder, "But why are you in bed anyways?"

Violet got out of bed and walked towards Clem, "What do you mean?"

Clem looked confused and pointed to the window, "It's noon. Almost one."

Violets eyes widened as she looked at her phone which had gone off, but the world wanted to torture her even more with the ringer muted so she couldn't hear it. Groaning, Violet put her phone back down, "Ugh, I set an alarm but I didn't here it. Anyways, did you just get back from that torture room and what did he say?"

Finally noticing, Clem grabbed her hat and put it on and just messed with a few of her belongings as Violet watched and waited for a response. She grabbed her own phone, with a case of a clementine on it (must've been a gift or something) and slid it into her pants pocket along with an ID.

Seemingly satisfied with what she did, Clem starts walking back to the open dorm door with Violet trailing behind her, "No. I went to go hangout with Louis in the music room for a bit." Violet looked worried and curious at that, but before she could voice it, Clem continued, "And for what he said; he said basically the same thing. And again, I am sorry for that."

Violet waved her off, "Don't worry about it. I'm sure there are plenty of other things that shit-head could've done to me or us. I'm just impressed that you stupidly decided to get in trouble the first day."

They continued to walk down the hall side-by-side, now encountering plenty of other students now that it was lunchtime and soon class. Some stopped and looked at them, but Violet couldn't care now like she usually would. She was only focused on Clem talking to her, and Clem just didn't seem to care. She could handle herself.

"Hey, I didn't decide anything. And I don't plan on making a habit of it either. It-"

Violet cut her off with a roll of her green eyes, "Yeah yeah. Now, since it's one... Why don't we go get some food and join the group for the remaining period? It's the most normal thing to do after you disrupted my schedule."

Clem huffed, "Fine."

So they did. They went the rest of their day as they did yesterday. Playing dumb cards with Louis, now with less emotional questions, and the group and going to boring remaining classes. Eventually, their school day ended and they met back up at the dorm just watching Vines together for a few hours until the rusty PA system sounded.

The garbled voice of Ericson sounded, "Would Violet come to the front office now please." Clem and Violet looked at each other and got up off the bed they were laying on together.

"Well, I guess I'll see you in a few days." Clem rubbed the back of her neck with a hand still holding the paused Vine video.

"Yeah, make sure I will actually see you again."

Clem chuckled and Violet joined in at the absurdity of the mother tone she have adopted, "I won't leave you."

Violet smiled and looked at Clem who smiled back at her before Violet did something unexpected, she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Clem in a hug. She stumbled back a step with the sudden impact of Violet, before wholeheartedly hugging her back.

Violet disengaged after a second or two, slinging her bag over her shoulder, before stuttering out a, "Uhh um... See you." 

"Uh, yeah. See you."

* * *

Violet readjusted her backpack she quickly had slung over her shoulder and kept walking to the office. It was late evening now and the sun was going down with a few clouds covering the sky. Violet couldn't help but think about how far Ericson was from the nearest road and to her house... or her trailer. Violet, if the location wasn't moved, lived near just the edge of the city. So her mother must've driven a good hour or two to get here, and another two to get back.

She reached the hallway, her slow footsteps echoing throughout leading her to the office. Violet reached the door, and hesitated whilst sucking in a harsh breathe before knocking and opening the door.

Inside, her mother stood tapping her foot. She was a taller woman with a very thin build and her messy blonde hair in a bun. She wore a dirty work outfit, suggesting she came here right after her shift at one of her jobs. She looked at Violet with her arms crossed and a slight glare. Violet winced and wished her mother didn't come for her at all.

Ericson had told her mother the situation then exited the two out the door where they crossed the courtyard to the open gates. A small car waited with opened doors for the arrival of the two. Violet threw her back into the backseat with her as her mother went into the front and they closed the car doors.

Violet's mother looked into the rear-view mirror at her and her gaze softened.

"Violet." She spoke gently, "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Violet looked down at her lap, making sure to not look up at her mother. Eventually she sighed and gave up, starting the car up and starting to pull out of the dirt parking lot and onto the dirt path.

Violet looked up and stared out the window, looking into the school. Before the gates closed however, she saw a shadowed figure jump over the far wall in the opposite direction. She sat up straighter hoping to get a better look, but her mother's gaze found her and she shrunk back down.

She couldn't help but wonder who that was. Who would be so daring to jump out of a boarding school? Surely a student, but which student?

Violet sighed and slumped down farther in her seat. No need to think about that. Right now, she just needed to survive these few days back at home.

Maybe everything would be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, who do you think jumped over the fence?  
> I don't know anything about softball, but stealing an angry person's lead position that could potentially lead them to freedom seems like a good reason to start a fight. Right? It took me forever to update. I'm not sure why people like this, but I'll keep going. But I'll try to be more motivated to start writing since I finally have time to just sit and write. Happy readings!


	6. What family?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is from Clem's POV and what she does, then Violet's POV in her situation.  
> Ready for the Definitive Series in September?
> 
> "Yesterday was history, tomorrow is a mystery; but today is a gift, that is why it is called the present."  
> \- Grandmaster Oogway

The day has seemed to go a thousand times darker for Clementine, sadly watching Vi leave the school from the window like a lost puppy last night. It was now early morning and about an hour before classes got out for lunch, which Clem still hadn't gone to since only being her for a few days and of course nobody wanted to be next to the girl who fought somebody. In limited time, Clem had already become lionized.

Clem was sitting on her bed, just thinking. About her and Vi.

They have only been together for the better part of two or three days. But in that time, they had made a fast friendship, one that neither of them have really experienced so quickly. Clementine has quite a few acquaintanceship and friendships over her few years, but none had she been so trusting and closely tied to a new person; much less one like Violet. 

But with her quick friendship had also brought a quick enemy which lead them getting in trouble in just a very short amount of time. Clementine would've thought that this could've been a new start, after all her other failed attempts, but what did she expect in a school full of troubled youth?

She's just glad she didn't get expelled after two days or something, or got more people involved in this small... misunderstanding. Luckily, it only involved small suspension for the trio, but it still shouldn't have been that way. Violet shouldn't have gotten involved, and in a way, she didn't. Now, she's paying for Clem's actions... even if it wasn't her fault. Damn Minerva.

Gazing out in the courtyard for a few moments longer, she sees a blur go by. Quickly jumping up, Clem glares over at the spot: seeing it to be a figure with a hoodie on jumping over a small wall and out of the school. Maybe it should be concerning, and it definitely was, but Clem didn't have it in her to report whatever the hell that was.

Maybe it was just a dumb kid wanting to escape, though she guesses that would cause more problems. Clem honestly has no idea what to do. If it becomes a bigger problem, she'll make it known, but for now it really doesn't seem to matter. Maybe she can-

Loud knocks to the door interrupts her thoughts and she gets up to open the door wondering who could be there. It was starting to become dusk and would soon be another closing of another day.

On the other side of the solid wooden door stands Lilly, supposedly to collect Clementine for whatever. She seems to be part of the main staff group if she's the one to pick Clem up and meet with her before anybody got out of classes. It made sense, Lilly definitely doesn't seem like the type of person to be a teacher. More like the one to beat kids.

Lilly looks down at her with a frown as if hearing her thoughts and spits out quickly, "Come on. You're coming to the office to discuss something we discovered."

Clem slightly panics, and tries to keep her calm, "Uh... What do you mean by that?" Clementine doesn't walk out of the door as Lilly tries to turn away from the girl. "Why can't we just solve it here?"

Looking back, Lilly glares at the uncooperative child, "Just come on, Clementine. Don't make this any harder than it needs to be", Lilly begins to walk away and mutters, "Or any longer."

Clem sighs and walks out of the safety of the dorm to follow the unnerving woman who hasn't stopped or looked back to see if Clem was actually following her. She rushes down the hall to be slightly behind her and asks, "So what exactly do you need me for?"

Lilly mirrors her sigh with frustration and exhaustion, "We'll talk when we get there." She leaves no room for discussion and they walk down the hall together in darkness and awkward, or on Clem's part anyways, silence until making it into a small office that's most likely Lilly's.

Lilly walks in purposefully and sits down gracefully in her comfy chair and leans on the desk, waving Clem over to sit on the other side. "Close the door", she orders and Clem does so and sits down before giving the room a quick once over.

It was definitely smaller than Ericson's office with it's grand window and wide space, but still seemed like an ideal place for someone to spend their time. It had a few cliche education posters and a small window that looks out, but other than that the walls were bare. The desk was an average desk that was cleaned of clutter, and the chair Lilly sat in was a regular office chair.

Lilly watches her half-heartedly before Clem turns back to her, "Shouldn't Eri- the headmaster be here? Dealing with this?"

Lilly leans down to a drawer on the side of her desk. "He's gone for now. He should be here for your return though." Lilly sits back up and tosses a small folder onto the table between them, "But for now; your dealing with me." Lilly glares and leans forward on her desk causing Clem to back slightly in intimidation.

With a huff, Lilly leans back into her chair once more. "But that's not what we're here to discuss right now. Here," Lilly opens the folder on the desk that is Clem's pitiful file and slides it towards her, "Look at this. There aren't contacts here." Lilly points to a part of a sheet that says contacts, which is indeed blank.

"And that means?" Clem inquires.

"And that means; we don't have anybody to contact if anything goes wrong. Like now with your suspension. Do you have anybody that can take you off the premises for a few days?" Lilly closes the file once more and pushes it away, while folding her hands together on the desk. Makes it sound like I'm in trouble... oh wait. 

Clem stops for half a second, before she asks hopefully, "Why can't I just stay here? I mean, Violet and Minerva are gone already."

Lilly sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose in annoyance. Surely she thought this would be quick. "That isn't quite how suspension works. And we can't break the rules just for you as it might give other students ideas to disobey if they say you here. I'm certain all the others here have details of this... incident."

Lilly looks back up at Clementine whose been silent the whole time and looking down into her lap, not wanting to meet the other's gaze, seeming to be debating with herself about something. "So, do you have anywhere to go? At least for a few days." Lilly asks. They stay in tense silence for a few moments until Clementine says simply:

"No."

Lilly's eyes soften ever so slightly from her usual glare and frown, something that seems to be rare, especially around students. She ends the silence by lowly asking, "But who brought you here? Can't you go there?"

And apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Clem stiffens and looks up to Lilly finally for her lap, before looking back down, "We were in foster care. The social workers had brought us here."

Lilly tilts her head and examining the girl, "Why?" It was a simple and curious question. But it did enough to flip Clem's attitude like a switch.

Clem snaps her gaze up which makes Lilly imperceptibly flinch, "'Cause they couldn't deal with us! Wouldn't take the time to deal with us. We were 'savages' and 'problematic' and instead of letting us go somewhere or be adopted, they sent us here. To this..." Clem gets weaker and weaker with each word, soon trailing off into silence.

Lilly intently gazes at Clem, no longer intense and accusatory, but softened and curious. "You keep mentioning we." She notes out loud. "I'm assuming that means you and AJ. Are you guys family?"

Clem mournfully shakes her head, "No. We aren't related. But we've been together for years, enough to seem like family."

Lilly digests all this information, wanting to see how much she can get out of her. So she asks hesitantly, "Okay. But what about your parents?"

Clem stays silent to that question, and rightfully so. Lilly seems to notice she's done talking about this, but pries one last time as she did need to finish a job here that was completely sidetracked. Returning to her usual demeanor, she addresses the girl, "Clementine. I understand this may all be hard, but we still need someone to take you for a bit. Once more, do you have someone who can take you?"

Looking up, Clem relents and solemnly nods to the relief of Lilly. But she's quick to elaborate, "But we aren't exactly on the best of terms."

"It's only a few days." Lilly responds.

Clem nods once more, pulling out her phone (after getting permission to use of  course) and walking out into the hallway, closing the door behind her. Nobody should be in the hallways and she doesn't want Lilly really listening in on the conversation. Lilly respects this, and stays put and Clem nervously out the door to make the call.

A few minutes pass by, and Clementine reenters with a saddened frown set on her face. She stuffs her phone into her pocket and remains standing as she turns to Lilly and hastily says, "They'll be here in a bit. Can I go now?"

Lilly stares at her for a moment, taken aback by her hurried confirmation, before shaking her head slightly and granting, "O-of course. I'll call you when they arrive. You may go."

Clem is already turning away and walking out the door, closing it behind her with a small slam. She rushes down the still clear halls which will have classes let out in a few minutes, eager to make it back to her dorm and just stay there for however much time she had.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, she smacks right into Louis. Literally. They bounce back from each other with Clem holding her jaw and Louis holding his shoulder, looking up and glaring at each other, ready to tell the other off, before stopping. They drop their hands, and Louis offers a usual cheshire grin with a polite greeting, "Hello Clem."

Before Clem can respond the boy, something small crashes into her waist. She looks down to see AJ hugging her and smiles softly at him, ruffling his hair and returning the embrace as best she can. "Hey AJ." Louis dramatically clears his throat behind him, "And hello Louis."

AJ lets go, shuffling back to stand by Louis. "What are you guys doing here in the halls? Doesn't class not get out for another like 15 minutes?"

Louis steps forward and nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders, "Yeah, but- hey! AJ wanted to see you."

"So did you. You told me." AJ butts in and raises a brow.

Louis stutters a response as Clem chuckles, "Whatever, yeah yeah. Anyways! Why don't you have lunch with the gang once more? We've been dying to hear about the fight... and we felt bad about how you left last time."

Clem smiles at him and he returns it. "Sure. Why not?"

Louis smiles widens it that's even possible, "Great. We'll be meeting in the band room." He steps to the side in a grand fashion, ushering her forward. "Ladies first."

She walks forward with AJ towing closely behind her, and Louis following right after. "Lady? You must be thinking of someone else." He chuckles as they continue onward to the music room for lunch, exchanging banter humorously along the way.

* * *

When they reach the music room together, classes for lunch have already let out with kids already flooding into the halls mercilessly. It only takes them like five minutes to get from Lilly's office to the music room but Clem and Louis, or no... actually just Louis, had stopped multiple times for something or other that had caused them to take like twenty minutes instead.

So by the time they got there and opened the door: Ruby, Brody, Marlon, Aasim, and Omar which Clementine recognized were already sitting their peacefully; along with a few new members she hadn't seen last time consisting of just Mitch and Willy.

The two boys sat a bit away from the rest of the group and offered a polite greeting to Clem and AJ,  with some awkward staring from Willy, but returned back to whatever they were doing and were otherwise ignored by the rest.

Clem sits down on the small coach behind the piano, where Louis decided to plop himself down, and is immediately bombarded by Ruby and Brody who question her about the fight and express their concern in a motherly way. She waves them off, flattered but not really wanting to talk about it, and they settle back down.

Marlon waits a few moments for Clem to get comfortable before looking around confusedly and piping up, "Where's Vi?"

Ruby looks at him incredulously, "Seriously? Are you the only person who didn't hear about this or...?"

"The fight between the girls, Marlon. We literally talked about it." Louis interjects with a chuckle.

"Seems they need to add short-term memory to his file." Aasim supplies, writing in a book of his, not even looking up.

"Or no memory at all." Brody counters with a roll of her eyes, with Ruby joining.

"Hey!" Pouting, Marlon gently punches Brody's shoulder, which she returns harder making him wince.

Mitch looks up from whatever he and Willy were working on and looks at Clem who's watching everyone banter with a smile, "So... Who won the fight?" Willy looks up as well, awaiting her response which he probably hopes to be a detailed recounting of the fight.

"Well I-" Clem starts to be cut off by Louis exclaiming with upmost confidence, "Well of course, Clem won!" Clem rolls her eyes good-naturedly at his theatrical display while Mitch and Willy seem to accept that answer and turn back.

Aasim shakes his head at Louis in a feigned annoyed expression, or maybe he really is annoyed with him, and turns back to Clem. He asks in a serious tone, "When will you be leaving and back? We heard you got suspended." 

"A few days is what I've been told." Clem just realized they never told her an exact date for her return, but she hopes it won't be long for the place she's going.

Aasim raises a eyebrow, amused, "Honestly. You got off easily for causing so much trouble. A kid so much as steals a pen or something, they'll have their asses."

Clem turns to him and raises her own brow, suspicious, "Why would someone want to steal a pen in the first place?" He just shrugs and turns back to the book he was writing in.

Omar just then, walks near here and offers her a sandwich which he most likely make awhile ago. They nod at each other and she expresses her thanks, and starts eating it looking out of the dirty window before she thinks of something else.

She sits back up and continues looking out the window as she absent-mindlessly asks, "Has anyone ever jumped over these walls before? Or, I don't know, escaped...?" People running off made it seem like this damn place is a prison and hell, from what she's heard, it seems to be.

Brody looks at her confusedly and shrugs, "Huh? Yeah. That happens sometimes, I guess?"

Clem snaps her head at her, which she just raises a brow to, "Wait? Really?" Kids escaping a boarding school? Why doesn't anybody keep these kids under watch, or make sure they don't escape?

"Yeah! Everyone who has been here for awhile has done it. They hate being cooped up in here."Louis responds enthusiastically, before lowering his voice in a loud whisper, "And don't tell anyone, but we've done it a couple times." He dramatically zips his lips and throws away a imaginary key which Clem just stared blankly at him for.

"Does anybody do it... frequently? I thought I saw someone." She recalls that weird figure jumping over the wall that should've raised so many alarms for her. From the glimpse Clem saw, it seemed they weren't trying to be secretive about it.

"Who?" Marlon asks simply, like she would know the answer.

Clem gives him a deadpan look, and Brody glares for a fraction of a second, "I don't know. They just jumped over the back wall this morning."

Marlon rolls his eyes and addresses Clem's bewildered expression with a chuckle, "You met James. Or well, saw him."

Clem turns to him, "James?"

"Yup. He leaves almost everyday that way." Louis replies for Marlon, pointing in a vague direction.

Maybe this school really was a damn prison. "Doesn't he get caught if he does it so often?" Clem expresses obvious disbelief at them. Wouldn't staff get word of this, especially if so many kids knew about this and or do it.

 

Marlon answers venomously, "You really think Ericson cares about 'unstable" and 'dangerous' troubled youth?" Funny, Clem seemed to relate to those words quite a bit. So she could tell where Marlon, or the kids, were coming from.

Satisfied somewhat with the explanation, she changes the subject and jokingly mutters, "Seemed to care enough to suspend me and Vi."

Louis chuckled, "Can't let everyone go. Have to make an example, you know?"

Don't I? Clem shakes her head with a smile before it disappears.

At that moment, the intercom comes on and calls for Clementine. Everyone knows it's for Clem to leave, and she gets up, ready to walk out. They all wave her goodbye with a smile when Louis and AJ get up to follow her out as well.

Before Clem could even walk five feet after closing the door behind them, AJ quickly wraps Clem up in a hug again. She leans down into a crouch for a more comfortable hug and they hold on before Clem pulls back first and stands back up to see Louis watching the two with an affectionate eye.

She nods to him, and he nods back, as she turns and tries to walk to the stairwell that leads up to the dorms to get her stuff and go to the office. Before she can, Louis swiftly grabs her hand that causes her to turn back.

He stutters for a moment, not a hundred percent certain why he stopped her, before smoothly saying, "I'll be seeing you on piano duty when you come back." He winks and lets go, smiling sheepishly all the while.

Clem smiles and starts walking up the stairs. Louis sighs and turns back to go into the music room once more and rejoin his friends as AJ lingers in the hallway for a moment, before going with Louis again when the boy offers.

AJ doesn't know why, but he has a bad feeling about Clem leaving. He knows why she has to, but they don't know why she shouldn't. He tries to ignore the feeling and bury it deep, but it continues to linger in his mind even more so when Clem leaves. Who knows? Maybe it's nothing.

* * *

Clementine makes it into the empty courtyard after being directed to, and walks oppressively across it. Small leaves swirl in the soft wind, but the world seems awfully quiet; as if it was holding it's breath as well. The grass and dirt protests under her heavy boots. The somewhat rusty gate has been opened, most likely by staff that had already left the scene, and seems to be mocking her with it's rhythmic squeaky hinges.

She pauses right before turning the wall into the impromptu dirt parking lot, sucking in a large breath and breathing out, trying the stop the pounding in her ribcage. Clem reassures herself with futile effort, and with a surge of confidence, steps out from behind the wall.

She sees a nice and cleaned Nissan, the black paint having a shiny coat and reflecting light smoothly. The small car has it's occupant inside, and as Clem steps closer, they end up stepping out and walking towards her, stopping a few feet in front of her.

It's a tall and dark woman, having her hair up in a messy bun and nice dress clothes that were probably pretty expensive. She wears light jewelry with a necklace and a pair of sunglasses, her eyes most likely boring into her behind them.

"Clementine." The woman greets cooly. 

"...Christa." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohh.... Family problems starting to get revealed. In 10k words... so not a lot of anticipation. That's okay though 'cause it's only the start of the problems! That makes a new mystery with Christa.  
> I brought the gang back a bit with some Louis and AJ in there because I love them and feel as if I've been neglecting them.  
> -Happy readings! OLW out  
> (Also, if you didn't understand the quote: it means I don't have a proper schedule and upload whenever. But lets by poetic about it, why not?)


	7. Is this home?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 4th for most people! I just wanted a very quick chapter out for the holiday because everyone is busy themselves, but I'm not! Enjoy this very small chapter, sort of an interlude for the holidays.
> 
> [enter bad 4th of July joke here because most of them are pretty bad.]

The car ride was excruciatingly quiet. It was almost suffocating.

Violet could feel the scrutinizing glances from her mother, but she just kept her gaze peering out of the window and watching the roads pass on by.

Ericson was pretty deserted from most big cities or towns, only having a few longs paths that actually led out to the actual main road. Right now, they were on a smaller road with only a few cars actually passing by them every once and awhile.

And the isolation was creating tension like never before with Violet and her mother. They hadn't spoken the whole time; just small glances, and even then, they hadn't made any actually eye-contact as long as Violet can avoid it.

They've only been driving for a bit and it would be at least over another hour before they actually made it to home... well, to where she's suppose to be living for a few days. It wasn't her home, not anymore. Or it never really was.

Violet really didn't want to go back to that damn trailer she lived in with her parents. She never felt protected or safe there, and it was always so cramped. She was always to scared to do anything there, and always wanted an escape from that damn place. Especially when- Violet shook her head.

She usually went to her grandparents house, where they would always treat her with love and kindness. Sometimes when her mother was overwhelmed or just when Violet wanted to go there, which was more often then not. She's glad her grandparents just put up with her and actually seemed to like her. But...

No, her home was now with her friends at Ericson. Louis, Marlon, Tenn, Ruby... they made her feel wanted and loved, always have. And now with Clementine there, she makes that hellhole of Ericson feel just a bit better. Violet wonders if Clem is still there at Ericson's right now or if she got taken away already right after she left. And the others? Do they care that she left? Maybe... most likely. She misses them.

"Violet."

Her mother softly says her name, but she pretends not to hear, and gives no hint or change that she actually did.

"Violet, talk to me."

She speaks again, and Violet continues to be lost in her own thoughts, trying to ignore her mother.

"Violet!"

Her mother's tone is much stern this time and it causes Violet to jump to her own annoyance. She slowly moves her head to meet her mother's dark, grey-green eyes that scowl at her and they finally make eye contact. Violet narrows her eyes, and her mother doesn't say anything, just reaches into the glove box to pull something out.

It's an envelope, and she holds it over her shoulder at Violet. She looks at what it says and it just addresses her name on the front. She cautiously takes it from her mother's hand after she gently waves it a bit in her face, and tears it open without a care of the condition she leaves the envelope.

Inside, there is a letter addresses to her that is handwritten neatly. And it's from her grandmother.

The grandmother who got her into Ericson. The grandmother that lost her mind after her husband had died on her. The grandmother who left a horrified eleven-year-old after she decided to take her life right in front of Violet. The grandmother who turned a shotgun on herself with her granddaughter watching her from the other room.

Violet remembers that she used to go hunting with her grandfather, but after he died and her grandmother shot herself, Violet can't hear a gunshot without getting sent into a panic attack. All those great memories with them, a home away from her own dysfunctional family, just shattered; and the illusion that her grandparents were such amazing people wiped away when her grandmother basically traumatized her.

Violet remembers her mother coming to get her and how she had sent her to Ericson because she thought Violet hadn't felt anything at her grandmother's death. But that was completely wrong.

Violet had felt so much guilt and pain at her grandmother's death. But she decided to give her mother the benefit of the doubt of not seeing it when she might've been quite traumatized herself at the sight.

And Violet doesn't blame her mother. Not much anymore. After all, Violet ended up discovering her real family at Ericson's that she hopes she can see once more in a few days. But that doesn't mean-

"Aren't you going to look at it?" Her mother's voice broke through her thoughts. She hadn't even realized she'd been staring at the damn folded up letter for minutes, and hesitates in opening it.

Before even opening it, she assumes it probably an apology letter from her. But why would she get it now instead of years ago? Violet unfolds it and reads the short contents inside.

**My dear Violet,**

**I'm sorry. From wherever you get this, or whenever.**

**I hope you have a true family. Something that we could not provide for you.**

**-Grandma**  

Violet can feel sharp tears pricking the corners of her eyes and wills them away. It was an apology letter, but not like she had been expecting. Violet could feel so many meaning and emotion come from those few words.

Looking up to her mother, she sees her looking back innocently and curiously at her. She focuses back on the road in feigned indifference and asks, "So what does it say?"

Violet is reluctant to say. She's not sure why, but the letter seems too personal, and it most likely was. She doesn't want to say that her grandmother thought that her mother wasn't Violet's family, even though she really wasn't. She instead leans back and says in a small voice, "Nothing much."

She can easily tell her mother doesn't believe her, but she doesn't push it. But a thought strikes Violet about the letter, "Where did you get this? It seems like it was from years ago."

Her mother turns back to Violet, "It was. But..." She sighs sadly, "I went back to the house and found it hidden in one of the rooms. I wasn't meant to be hidden for all these years or kept from you."

The house her grandmother lived in. Why hadn't she seen it, why didn't she give it to Violet before? Before Violet can question this, she continues, "The house hadn't been occupied for years, but your grandparents had promised the house for us so we could give you a better place to live once they... yeah. And only recently have we been allowed into the house."

Violet look a second to register what her mother was saying then her eyes lit up, but quickly dimmed, "So what your saying is...?"

Violet's mother looked back at her with a small smile, "What I'm saying is..." The car stops a bit abruptly in front a house.

Violet's grandparents house, which looked as good as new. A sturdy wooden door and newly-painted decorated outside walls. A small staircase that led up to the porch where new and real plants rested in their pots behind the white railings. The two-story house seemed to tower over the busted up car.

"Welcome home."

But it wasn't home.

It may have seemed like a home, but it wasn't home. Her real home was at Ericson with her friends that awaited her return. Louis, Marlon, Brody, Mitch, Willy, Tenn, Sophie, Ruby, Aasim, Omar, Sophie, AJ... Clementine. No, they were Violet's actually home. Her actually family.

Her mother seemed to see the change in her expression as her rare smile was wiped off her face, glancing between the house and her daughter. She was about to ask Violet if she was okay, but thought better of it and opened the driver door with Violet quickly following and getting out.

Violet grabbed her small backpack that had very few items in it, and threw the straps onto her back. Her mother was already walking up the steps and away from her and to the front door.

Violet looked once more at the house, and saw it had changed. Maybe not physically with it still in pristine condition, but her eyes did not light up like it did when she had seen it again after those few years away when they first pulled up.

Instead of seeing the grand two-story home, she just saw a waste of space. Instead of seeing the fresh and watered plants, she saw the fake plants that still seemed to die in her old trailer home. Instead of seeing clear windows that allowed you clearly see inside some rooms, she saw clouded rooms with painful memories.

"Are you coming?" Her mother requested as she was turning the key into the home. Violet merely nodded and walked up into the home after her mother and awaited to see what was inside.

Home.

Was it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, very short! I thought the letter would be a bit more sentimental and tied in, but I hope it will get explained more in the other chapters. This chapter wasn't really planned, but I kinda liked the direction. Next chapter will be longer with Violet and will hopefully come soon.  
> -OLW out


	8. Why did you do it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't have an update schedule so it's all really up in the air right now. And I'm restarting school soon.  
> But anyways, new chapter which is basically deep character development for Violet and I'm very much not confident about this chapter... Here we go.

Cold. That's what the inside of what she sought out as home all her childhood, her home away from hell, felt like to her now.

Cold and sterile. Such a far cry from how it was when Violet and her grandparents used to play with her; fairy tale books and toys everywhere. She recalled a stupid clean-up song they all used to sing together when they made a mess too big. Violet smiled faintly before it disappeared quickly when she remembered the fear she had when her mother always came to pick her up, sometimes she begged to stay with them.

Sighing, she dropped her backpack down where it made a soft thud as it connected to the wood floors. Violet looked around into the interior, seeing as most of the old miscellaneous stuff her grandparents had was removed, and only large pieces of their furniture remained. The walls were all still painted a very dull light grey with white and the floors were still the same wood all throughout the main parts.

The railings to the second floor had been changed out from it's wooden posts to metal posts, but that really seemed to be the only big change to the house besides the change in furniture. "It's never been so clean...", Violet absentmindedly mused.

She carried herself over the the stairs as her mother walks off behind her, and climbs up slowly. She takes long and painfully creaky strides up the steps, watching the downstairs walls disappear as she walks up. Violet reaches the top where the hallway splits off and she decides to go left first where the bathroom and grandparent's bedroom is.

She enters her grandparent's bedroom, or well she now assumes it's her parent's, and sees it mostly the same. The beaten up wooden bed-frame, the wardrobe in the corner of the room, the large mirror near the dresser across the room. The mattress is new and there's curtains now that are a translucent white.

Violet walks over to the mirror, staring at herself. Her emerald eyes that she sees as dull and lifeless like she always had, her whitish-blonde hair with a horrible short cut, her raggedy vest over her purple sweater. She has a sudden strong urge to smash the mirror to pieces and steps back quickly, exiting the room, before she can act on that at all.

Entering the bathroom, it's what would be expected in a bathroom: A sink and mirror, a bathtub with a shower curtain, a toilet, and a plain grey square rug on the floor. The tiles dirty except in a few spots, which kind of surprises Violet and strikes her as odd. She opens the medicine cabinet that also acted as the mirror, and pulls out a bottle of pills. Then another. And another. Names that she can't recognize at all, Violet puts them back and in her haste to leave, trips on the rug and leaves.

She closes the door softly, trying to ignore those pill bottles and goes to her grandfather's study room. The large wooden desk sits right in the middle with a modern computer hooked up on top, papers scattered on the top and unkempt. Violet's curiosity wins her over and she looks at the papers, careful not to touch them. She grows bored quickly when all of them seem uninteresting with charts and numbers on them. Violet walks away and fails to notice a single paper fly off and slip onto the floor.

Instead, she walks across the hall and stands in front of her room. Her bedroom when she spent the night and personalized to her eleven-year-old liking. Her hand is on the doorknob, but she hesitates and lets go. She goes back down the hallway and glances over her shoulder at her unopened door. Shaking her head, she walks downstairs once more.

She walks through the living room into the kitchen where her mother resides and seems to be humming and baking something, which never happened before. She smiles lightly at the scene before shaking her head and moving on, not looking at the interior. Her mother coughs and Violet turns around to see if she's been caught, but she's still focused on whatever she's baking.

Violet leaves and then to the family room located near the center of the house. Upon entering, she sees a man she's dread and resented her whole life: her father. Who lies on the couch and is watching baseball on the old television, not having seen her walk up behind him.

He looks the same as ever, just older and more broken then he was if that was even possible. His receding hairline more prominent and the hair that remains slicked back tightly, he wears a dress shirt with a loosened tie and sporting regular dark jeans, his dress shoes kicked off onto the floor where his feet dangle over. The couch looks small compared to his over six foot body; the beer in his hand tiny in his massive paw.

( **Sensitive topics ahead** )

She silently walks back and hopes he hadn't seen her, tumbling back up the steps she just descended from and straight into her now room, fear and pain bubbling inside her. Her back slid against the hard wooden door as she curled in on herself Violet's breathing quick and suffocating as she couldn't find air while her chest tightened, her vision blurring.

Her insides twisted with guilt as she remembered him in her young childhood; how she was always on thin ice with him and constantly tried to avoid him, and by extension, her mother. His loud voice yelling at her and her mother while her stood over them, drunk as always.

Violet remembered more and more. More and more. Horrible repressed memories, punishments, subtly abuse. She places a hand on her chest and tries to calm her heartbeat which seemed to work. Slowly opening her eyes and stopped gasping for breath.

After it was over, she got back up and sat quietly on her bed. Looking around the room, it was still the same as ever and seemed untouched. Stars taped into the ceiling with  white-blue colored walls and a blue rug laid on the wooden floors. Her desk had a small, unopened stack of printer and lined paper sitting neatly. She got up and crawled over, tearing open the package of lined paper, pulling a conveniently placed pen from the desk, and began writing.

She wrote until she was tired and night was starting to fall. She wrote anything and everything with a few doodles on the side. She wrote for everybody and nobody. It was her own self therapy when her grandfather had taught her how too, telling her that whenever she was upset, she should write her feeling out... So she did. And nobody bothered her.

When Violet had felt she was completed, she got up and stacked the important papers into the nightstand next to the bed, promising to herself they would be safe in there. She pulled up the covers over herself, not bothering with taking a shower and changing or going down to eat, and closed her eyes.

Violet reassured herself that it would only be a few days, then she could go back. To her real friends and family.

* * *

_Violet wakes up, not in her bed, but in a field. There's a slight cold breeze, but somehow it chills Violet to the bone where she clutches her arms tighter around herself. She looks around, seeing shadows of people in black, holding items precariously in their hands. There's stone slabs everywhere in the field which look peculiarly like... graves._

_It was a graveyard. But why would she be in a graveyard? Then it hits her: No, she wasn't sleeping, she was dazed. Looking at... looking at..._

_Her grandfather. In his casket. Surrounded by flowers; red, blue, white. The most common flower being placed around him is purple violets, small and fragile. She can see a few violet petals that were broken off or dangling by a thread, desperate to cling to the rest and stay whole. Violet knows the struggle._

_The shadowed people are still obscured from Violet who tries to figure out each identity, but she stops trying after she finds it hopeless. The only person she can see clearly is the one person she doesn't want to see: her grandmother, sitting in a lone chair far away from the other guests. She's blank-faced, clad in black like everyone else, with faint tear marks that glisten in the bright sun. It doesn't feel like a proper day for a funeral._

_Violet can feel tears starting to fall out of her eyes, and she doesn't seem to will it to try and stop. She squeezes her eyes shut tightly, lightly shaking her head, and when she opens them again: they aren't at the funeral for her grandfather, their at her grandparent's house._

_More specifically, the living room. On the day her grandmother... shot herself. She's watching cartoons, focused intently on the screen like before, and Violet tries her hardest to look away from the old television. But she can't move her head and turn around. Violet hears footsteps behind her, the creak of the old rocking chair that signals somebody sat down. The cocking of a gun, and Violet can finally swivel around._

_( **Warning.** )_

_Her grandmother sits behind her in the rocking chair, swaying slightly, a shotgun pointed upward next to her. She's muttering something quietly, not even once glancing at Violet, as she pulls the gun out from beside her. She stops swaying, placing the gun under her chin._

_A sickening bang that has Violet's stomach rolling and the gun drops and falls to the ground. It lands, the barrel pointing towards Violet, no occupant holding it. She turns back around and ignores the slow creaks of the rocking chair before it stops completely._

_A long time passes by, Violet not knowing how long as she stares at the television, shocked. Until finally, the rushing off footsteps as the cartoons switch off and the screen turns blank; when Violet looks up, she sees the horrified face of her mother._

_She's pulled up and into another room, her mother shouting in desperation and shock all the while. She turns to Violet, crouching down and looking right into each other's green eyes. Her mother's eyes full of tears; Violet's wide and blank. She's talking fast, wanting to get an explanation out of Violet, but Violet doesn't hear her. She looks out the window, seeing the sun going down; then she looks back into the room where her grandmother resides, and her eyes are covered by her mother. She shrouded in darkness once more._

_When she looks again, she's in the courtyard of "Ericson's School for Troubled Youth". The school looks rundown: the grass patched with dirt, the wood splintering, the brick walls fainted. Her mother had dropped her off here a week after her grandmother's... unfortunate demise. Filled with fresh trauma and haunting memories, her mother decided Violet needed help by enrolling her into a troubled school instead of therapy._

_Armed with only a backpack of essentials, she is guided away for a staff member while her mother rides off into the background. She's given a dorm with a cheery girl named Brody, who reluctantly befriends._

_Luckily for her, Brody introduces her to other students. That being people named Louis, Marlon, Ruby, Mitch, Aasim, Omar, Sophie, and Minerva who are all pretty weird but pretty okay, in Violet's opinion. Her and Minerva, along with her twin sister, easily connect from the first few interactions together. Louis also somehow weasels his way into Violet's heart after a long while, both claiming to be best friends after awhile together (though more begrudgingly on Violet's part.)_

_Before Violet's very eyes, she sees years flash before her and all fall into place. How they all changes together and how nobody ever really left the circle and nobody really got in either for years; just how they all liked it._

_Everything once again falls into darkness, how it usually is for Violet, until it all lights up like a bolt. It reveals a figure._

_A female figure who Violet had easily grown attached too, willing to sacrifice herself for and why she's in this situation. The light is intense and bright, but it still doesn't do much to hide her as her golden eyes are brighter._

_...Clementine._

_The vision only lasts a few moments, before it grows dark again. Violet expects another vision, but she doesn't get it. Instead she feels something constricting around her throat and her chest feels heavy. Wait..._

Violet jumps awake with a startled gasp and clutches her chest, eyes rapidly checking the darkness in the room. There's nothing but herself. Calming down, she reassures herself that it was just a nightmare... a dream?

She looks out into the darkness, searching for anything out of the ordinary. She looks out her window and stares into the dark abyss, free of clouds and stars. The moon is dimmed and waning, an illusion of faith, even the moon doesn't support her. The curtains are waving slightly from the chilly wind that enters her room by the cracked open window, though she doesn't feel its chill.

Sitting upright, she crosses her legs on the bed and lets the covers fall from her. Her clothes, which she hadn't switched out of, feel constricting. She goes to grab her backpack but curses silently upon remembering she didn't bring it up with her in her haste to escape and close in on herself.

Nobody had come for Violet. Not her mother, and definitely not her father. She remembers her grandparents always coming up to comfort her even if she locked them out. But if they were so great, why did they leave her? Her grandmother even knew what she was doing when she left that note... it seems so insignificant now. A part of her was thrilled her grandmother still thought of her, but a part of her felt resentment in the situation she had thought of Violet.

Violet hopes that her friends back at Ericson are thinking of her. She can't wait to go back and it hasn't even been a full day now. She doesn't know what she'll return to there, and how her relationships between Clementine and Minerva will be if... no, when... they see each other again. Anything must be better than here, trapped in this house, she supposes.

Violet hesitantly lays back down, not wanting to dwell anymore of what ifs (even if... right.) and closes her eyes once more, hoping that sleep would take her once again. And unsurprisingly: it doesn't.

The night will be over soon...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello. New short chapter. After this will be the conclusion of this arc and then we will have single Violet/Clem chapter, then we switch to Clementine.  
> Did you guys like the dream? It was like a flashback/dream type thing... I dunno.  
> Stay tuned because the story is just starting now, and it will get interesting, and I will try to update more frequently.  
> On an irrelevant note, this was written listening to the Violet Evergarden soundtrack.  
> -OLW out!


	9. A good family?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. Welcome to this new chapter. I said I'd update more frequently, so here ya go.  
> Right now, a lot of things need to be properly balanced before it can converge into a single path.  
> I'm glad ya'll like this. It's about to get real intense up in here.  
> So, I won't keep you waiting...

It's been a few days since Violet's arrival, with her trying to avoid her parents as much as possible and staying locked in her room the whole time, thinking about when she could finally go back to Ericson in only about a day. She just wanted to wait it all out, but unfortunately her mother had somehow convinced Violet to finally have dinner with them downstairs as a family.

It was awkward, and they never did it before anyways, so this was a first. Violet tries to keep staring at the meal and not let her eyes stray from the plain chicken she was offered. It was dry and sort of burnt, as her mother probably barely ever cooked if ever, but it make for an okay meal compared to what was served at Ericson. Thank god for Omar.

Violet could see the lingering glances her mother was giving her and how her father just blatantly ignored her like that was ever any different. He still made her heart race a bit, but now that she was older, she felt more capable and now just had to try her hardest not to full-on hit him.

They all sat in silence a few more intolerable minutes until her mother spoke up awkwardly, "So Violet, how are your friends at school? I don't recall anyone walking up with you."

Violet growls at herself internally, thinking how she just wants to spit "better than you" at her. Instead she quietly says, "Fine."

Unfortunately though, her mother thought it satisfying and engaged to start a conversation, "Really? Oh, who did you meet?" There was excitement in her voice with feigned surprise; but underneath it all was something else. Desperation.

Violet understood what her mother was trying to do, wanting to talk to her daughter after so many years of no interaction. But she can't seem to see that she was the reason why Violet never talked to her; she couldn't and her mother never came for her. She wants to reconnect with her mother, she really does, but she can't just brush it off after years of abandonment from them.

She tries to keep her negative emotions down, passively saying with a blank face, "Some cool people over the years and we just stuck together in a group." She shrugs.

Her mother doesn't seem to notice and just smiles at her, but Violet can't seem to find it in herself to smile back. Her mother then turns alarmingly serious and says in a calming, motherly tone, "I'm glad you found nice people. But whatever happened at the school? The headmaster told me you got into a fight with a few other girls. Is that true, what happened?"

"It was nothing really. I barely even got involved." Violet tries to play it off with a shrug off her shoulders. She really didn't want to talk to her mother, or anybody really, about a crazy fight with her crazy ex-girlfriend and current... friend. 

But, of course, her mother doesn't seem to believe her, deciding to continue pushing her daughter and pushing every button imaginable. "Then why did you get punished as well?" She doesn't sound accusatory, but Violet knows she is being so. It irks her.

"I don't know. My girl- this girl, Minnie, started going after this other girl. I just tried to stop it." A lie.

"Why were these girls fighting?"

"I don't know the full story." Another lie.

"And you just tried to intervene?"

"They were my friends! And it was just the right thing to do."  That was pretty much the truth. There was more to the story though obviously, and her mother still didn't seem to believe her though with her slightly narrowed eyes, opening her mouth slightly to speak again.

But before she could, Violet quickly changed the subject with a matter that's been lingering on her mind all week, "So, how long have you guys been in here? I've never seen it so clean before." 

"Yeah, it was closed for years after they cleaned initially when..." She stops, but recovers quickly, "We had the intention of selling it and moving to a smaller house after you left, but we didn't and just decided to move here."

Violet feels her blood boil a bit as suspiciously side-glances her mother which she thankfully doesn't catch and tries to ask nonchalantly, "So how long have you been here?" She asks once again.

"A year or two." Her mother says absentmindedly.

Oh.

"Two years?!" Violet flinches back with a shout. She lowers her voice but it still echoes faintly in the kitchen, "And you never thought to tell me!"

The realization. Her mother eyes widen and she looks at Violet. She just now remembered that she abandoned her daughter and just had to move into her home away from hell, didn't they?

Her mother looks taken aback and shakes her head furiously, "We wanted to get you. We just never had the time-"

"You always never had the time for me! Is that why you gave me up in the first place?"

"No, that isn't true and you know it."

"Do I? Why did you keep me in that hellhole of a school for 6 years?" Violet still sounded angry, but now she had a crestfallen expression, completely contradicting her statements. Her voice loud, but cracking. "Why did you leave me there?"

Her mother had unshed tears in her eyes, "Violet..." She looked down, "The reason I didn't get you is-" She cuts herself off with a hard cough.

Abruptly, her father stood up from his chair that made a painful scrape across the floor. He glanced at Violet's mother, then stared straight at Violet. They were across the table from each other but it felt as if her was right in front of her, towering over her. His deep voice growls at her, "You know why you went there." His voice definitely sounded accusatory.

Even if Violet felt terrified by this man, she was still enraged and couldn't stop it. "I know why I went there! I want to know why I was kept there."

"Because you deserved to be there." He said simply, voice getting slightly louder.

"Bullshit. You just didn't want me! You hated me."

"Violet." Her mother pleads with her.

"You're here now. Stop complaining." Her father drowned out her mother's pleas. His statements simple, but the meanings harsh.

"You don't want me here though, do you?" He turns back around to glare at her, and says something she immediately regrets, "You never loved me."

In an instant, she stumbles back and sees stars for a moment. Looking up, holding her cheek, her father's hand is raised slightly.

He had slapped her.

Instead of coming up with a response, her mind completely jumbled and her heart telling her to get the hell out of there, she rushes forward and pushes past him before either can speak a word. He doesn't look very stunned or surprised at his actions, but her mother is looking up to him in shock. As she races up the steps, he lowers his hand and walks out, leaving his half-eaten meal on the table.

Her befallen mother raises out of the chair, picking up the half-eaten plates and starts clearing the kitchen. Nobody is in her view anymore ans she mutters sadly under her breath, "I didn't want this."

* * *

 Before Violet had even made it to her room and slammed the door, tears were streaking down fast on her face. The dam was instantly broken the second they couldn't see her anymore.

So much for only one more day being uneventful. She thought she could actually make it a week without the family falling apart once more like it always did? Yeah right, wishful thinking right there, Violet. And now she was once again stuck, panic-stricken, in her room just like the first day. Screw this.

Her old bed doesn't feel like a soft mattress that's suppose to provide comfort; it feels like sitting on a sharp bed of nails. Those familiar springs from the mattress now are much more noticeable and uncomfortable. The seclusion of the room now makes her feel exposed to the outside world; something she never wants to happen as she doesn't want to reveal herself.

She feels a strong and cold draft from the cracked open window. The wind spins around her room and blows down everything soft in its path. Violet looks to the window and gets an idea she'll most likely regret. But that doesn't matter to her now. She just wants to escape for however long she can.

Obviously, it's a two story house and it's a straight drop down. But without hesitation, Violet crawls out the window and jumps down. It's an awkward landing, with a small jolt of pain in her ankles, but nonetheless she runs off, hoping she didn't lock the door.

The house is like Ericson's area, surrounded with trees, but instead of them being everywhere she looks, it's more opened up to her. Violet recalls vaguely to a place she used to go as a young child with her grandparents and she trots in the direction she believes it is in.

It's now semi-dark outside and it will be getting pitch black in a bit, and she hopes her parents won't come into the room and find her missing. Not that she suspects they actually would try to see if she's okay, but Violet still doesn't want it to happen... They don't deserve this.

A stubborn child running away from her problems, but she guesses she learned it from them when they abandoned her at Ericson. But why did they actually do it? It's not like she actually gave them time to respond, she was accusing them... just like they accused her. Violet wants to stop and head back, having so many second thoughts about this now, but Violet can't turn back. Not anymore.

So she keeps running. And running. And running. Running away from her problems.

* * *

 

It seems like forever until she stumbles upon a clearing (literally, branches like to trip you everywhere): it's a lake. The moon is now reflecting off the water in a beautiful glow.  Violet sits on a log and stays completely still like her grandfather used to tell her, and she's rewarded with many faint glows around her. Fireflies.

She remembers actually being scared of them when they first came her, unfamiliar with what the bugs were. But her grandfather had reassured her that they wouldn't harm her. He had grabbed hold of her hand and steadily held it out, and after a few moments, a firefly had landed on it gently.

So now, Violet still followed his advice and promptly stuck out her hand. And after awhile, a firefly gently landed on her hand. Slowly she moved her hand back and cradled it gently against her chest, right where her heart was. It flashes at her a few times and flies out of her cupped hand back to it's group.

They synchronize their flashing at Violet and each other then float farther away from the water as if to give her space. She smiles, but without the natural light from the fireflies, it's unnoticed.

In the distance, a twig snaps.

Violet's head glanced up, but she instantly writes it off as another woodland creature, as they're quite common. Little critters skittering around without a care in the world and sometimes just carelessly walking right in front of or across Violet's feet, not bothering to notice a giant creature above them. She wishes she could be as carefree as them.

Leaves start to crunch loudly. Violet is a bit more alarmed, scanning in the direction of the noise. She gets up off the log, creeping towards it when a dark cat jumps out at her.

She yelps and steps back, but the cat just merely meows at her and walks off. Relieved, she goes to sit back down on the log and have the fireflies rejoin her as they had distanced themselves from the area, seemingly frightened as well.

The cat continues to circle around the area and meow softly occasionally, much to Violet's amusement. Everything seems to fall back into the peaceful ambiance; with quiet meows and calm chirping from the cat and fireflies. Violet slides off the log she was resting on and now leans against it. She closes her eyes for a moment, bathing in the rare peace, but doses off into a dreamless sleep.

Unbeknownst to her, a dark figure watches from the distance; wearing a mask with matching gloves and a dark vest. It watches her for a few moments, then signals slowly to the the cat. It turns and follows the figure as it slowly creeps away into the darkness once more.

* * *

 When Violet opens her eyes again, she's still leaned up against the log. The sun now glares down at her through the trees trying to shadow her. She groggily takes in her surroundings then jumps up in panic. She never intended to stay at the lake the whole night and wanted to return later.

She spins on her heel to start running back but before she can take two steps, she kneels in pain. Her ankle hurts, not tremendously, but enough to be painfully uncomfortable. She assumes it's from the dumb drop down from the two-story window. Violet shrugs it off though as it seems she can still walk on it, she she sprints out of the clearing and back through the trees.

The morning is nigh and she thinks she was only asleep for a few hours before she woke up. Even still, it was long enough for Violet to be gone long enough.

And surely she was. Because standing on the porch is her mother in her pajamas with a blanket wrapped around her and a police officer. She can't actually believe her mother would think she'd run away... Okay, actually she can unfortunately. But Violet did not expect her mother to come check on her in the early morning and call the police to get her. She's not sure what to think of that.

Violet stops running and tries to calmly emerge from the treeline into the sight of the house. Her mother looks at the movement and notices Violet and gestures wildly at the officer who glances over his shoulder at her as well.

She nonchalantly waves at them and her mother rushes down from the porch to greet her. She's ready to get scolded and has a sincere "I'm sorry" teetering on her lips, but instead she's engulfed into a tight embrace. Her mother is hugging her. Her mother is hugging her! Completely shocked and unable to reciprocate, she leaves her mother hanging. Quickly, her mother leans back from her.

Violet turns away from her mother when she gestures at the police officer still standing there dumbfounded. He's a tall African-american man, with a black beard and the usual blue uniform. He looks down at her:

"Hello Violet. I'm Officer Everett." The officer gives her a small smile as he fully turns to her, "But you can call me Lee."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. If you guys think something needs to be improved, please tell me. I want the best quality for everyone's enjoyment.  
> By the way, Violet is 17 (so she isn't legally an adult and still can't leave the school) and Clem is still 16.  
> And that slap is not suppose to be physical abuse. Violet, as seen in cannon, has more verbal and mental abuse. She also seems to have abandonment issues. All these characters aren't suppose to be good or bad, but more morally grey and that's why they all need time to develop. Never be too quick to judge something or someone.  
> We have quite a way to go before the end is near. On that note:  
> -OLW out!


	10. Reconciliation?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've been gone longer than a month. Whoops. Motivation with writing when I have school and now a lot of social going on doesn't come often, though it isn't much of an excuse. But I've been having an urge and thought you guys deserve it. I really don't have a schedule and feel like an ass for not writing, but right now I'm back.  
> I swear, this chapter then next chapter and then we are switching to Clem, and I hope to get these out faster since all the support which is very much appreciated.  
> Shit will start to go down real fast after this.  
> Anyways, onto the new chapter (finally):

A shudder runs through Violet. Not at the cold morning, and it was cold, but the puzzlement of how a police officer was truly standing there at the door at her mother's command because she was actually worried about her daughter? That seemed new, Violet wanted to scoff. But she didn't, instead she turned her gaze to the officer who seemed intent on staring her down.

Officer Lee didn't seem to notice or care about her puzzlement as he just gently smiled at her, walking a bit closer to Violet. She had to use all her will power to not step back from the man. He might have been acting friendly and gentle, but still kind of a surprise to have an officer sitting on her doorstep anyways.

He seemed to examine her, giving a once-over and seeing she wasn't harmed in anyway and just a bit dirty from being out in the woods.His gaze was focused solely on her as Violet's mother watched worriedly to see if her daughter had come to any harm. His small smile faded as he looked back to Violet's mother, "Well it seems you don't need me here anymore." He turned back to look at Violet, "Be careful out there. It's been rumored some activity has been going on back there, but we haven't investigated it yet."

"Rumored activity?" Violet echoed absentmindedly, thinking back to her trip last night. Nothing had seemed to out of the ordinary, but you could never be too sure out there when she was playing. That's what her grandfather told her.

He nodded, but avoided the question subtly. "Have you seen anyone wandering back there?" He looked past her shoulder and into the deep woods, "We've heard a few complaints about disturbing noises and suspicious activity." He rose a brow at Violet as his eyes kept flitting back and forth between her figure and where she had just emerged from.

Violet recalled what happened last night and only came up with the cat and the fireflies near the lake. Though, she wasn't exactly looking very hard, just wanting to get away from her house. She shook her head hesitantly and mouthed a small "no".

Officer Lee hummed in affirmation, and didn't seem to notice her hesitation or didn't care enough. He closed his notepad with the vague situation written on it, "If you do, be sure to tell someone or request for me and I'll be sure to come back if anything has happened."

Violet looked back up to him, "What would happen?"

He shook his head with a now deep frown, that didn't seem right for him, "Sorry. I couldn't say." He perked up a bit too quickly, "But don't worry! We have it handled and have many people working on the case."

He flipped back through the notepad he was carrying, probably to write more stuff down, when a lone piece of paper fell out onto the dust ground. Violet picked it up, analyzing it.

It was a list with peoples names on it and times, along with a few exact and a few vague locations. She recognized a name or two from people who lived somewhat close by the house, and realized these were the people Officer Lee had already talked to. But before she could look any further at it, Lee had plucked it up from her hands, enough to make her know she probably wasn't suppose to see that.

He didn't look to put off though, as he just gave a small nod along with an unnecessary "thank you". Violet nodded back anyways.

Officer Lee turned to look back at her mother, who still wore the same expression, and her mother called over, "Thank you for your time, officer. I'm sorry to have make you come out all this way."

He waved a hand dismissively, "No worries, miss. It's my job, and I'm glad your both safe. You did the right thing." He turned to Violet with a glint in his eye, "Don't be running off anytime soon though. These woods are dangerous now."

Violet looked a lot more worried by his cryptic answer, the warning clear, and it unnerved her more with that glint she couldn't quite decipher in his eye. Fear? That's ridiculous. Violet looked to her mother, and her mother looked back, just as put off before she turned her gaze away. Officer Lee walked past Violet and over his shoulder with a new smile on his face, politely said, "Have a good day now."

Her mother got off the porch to go thank him as he walked away as Violet opened the door and walked inside, silently closing the big door. She sighed and went into the kitchen to get something to eat, as she was hungry from not finishing dinner. Sitting at the dinning chair she had abandoned yesterday, Violet watched her mother that was talking to the officer.

* * *

 Eventually, she stopped talking to him and they headed their opposite ways. Her mother lead herself back into the house as Officer Lee walked down the dirt trail to where he presumably parked his police car.

Violet watched her mother walk into the kitchen to where she was sat, and they made eye contact in an instant. Her mother's gaze was sharp and worried, while Violet's was somewhat fearful trying to play it off as bored. Soon, Violet gave in and turned her head away from her mother's piercing gaze. Violet looked down to her hands that rested on the table instead and fiddled with her dirty nails.

She sighed and pulled out her own chair to sit across from her daughter. With a hesitant hand, she reached out to try and cover one of Violet's, which were placed into the table, for a sort of comfort but Violet pulled her hands into her lap instead. Another sigh and she pulled back her hand a bit awkwardly.

Patiently she waited for Violet to say something, anything; when she didn't, her mother patiently asked her, "Why did you go? I tried to get you when you went upstairs after your father-"

"Where is he?" Violet interrupted her, scanning the rooms she could see from her spot slowly. She didn't expect him to be here, but she just wanted a reassurance he wouldn't just pop up out of nowhere.

Her mother pursed her lips, but answered in the same calm demeanor, "He's at work, Vi."

Vi. She doesn't remember being called Vi by her parents very often, it happened more when she was younger. She really liked when her grandfather would say "my dear Violet" as if he was reading a poem to her. Or when her grandmother called her "little Violet", as if teasing, but when it was truly a term of endearment. She remembers being called all these nicknames by her grandparents and friends, but never by her parents. It was weird now.

"Oh." She said instead, not wanting to dwell on a memory right now.

"So where did you go?" Her mother tried again, wanting to know desperately where her daughter had gone. This was no longer starting to become a game of long childish resentment, especially after that warning. She didn't want Violet running off again.

Violet looked up, gesturing with her hands that her mother couldn't see, "That old lake- the one Grandfather took me to."

Her mother smiled slightly, remembering. "I remember that place. We used to go there when you were really little, I doubt you remember though." She said nonchalantly.

"You went there?" Violet was surprised. She thought it was just a special place she went with with her grandparents, and not that her mother had actually been there and seen it. She was compelled to ask more questions about what she knew when her mother beat her to it:

"I took you there with them multiple times when you were an infant. Your father would come too sometimes. It was always fun and we'd spend hours on end there just enjoying nature when we could." Her smile slightly faltered, "But then things started happening and we had moved. So we couldn't really go with you anymore."

Violet gave a sympathetic look and leaned forward on the table, resting her hands back on them, that her mother looked away from for a second, "What happened?"

Her mother sighed, "Your grandfather started to get sick, so your grandmother stopped being so active. We had moved so we couldn't take care of them and your father started... having problems. I started working more, and you..." She stopped. Violet knew the rest.

She had started to resent them at that point. They no longer paid attention to her, because her mother was working and her father had started to go out all the time. Her grandmother had still paid attention to her though, and her grandfather, even when he didn't have the strength.

Violet wasn't sure how to respond, so she didn't. Her mother had taken that she wouldn't say anything, so she just waited silently. She thought about her mother and how she wanted to repair her relationship with Violet for all these years. But-

The thought of going back to her friends excited her, and being in the presence of her parents brought something out in her. Cold and fierce, rebellious against them. She knew she blamed her parents in many ways, mostly through her father and by extension, to her mother. She knew sometimes it was unfair, but they gave her up and abandoned her at Ericson's for years with no contact.

She knew they did it because they thought something was wrong with her, or maybe they didn't? Maybe she thought something was wrong with her? When she saw her grandmother commit suicide in this very house. But that didn't make it right. What was she suppose to do? Shock and fear, not carelessness and unemotional. Couldn't they see that now? Couldn't they see that then? Could she see that they already saw?

"Violet..." Her mother said slowly. She had watched her daughter's expression carefully; full of confused and pained expressions, guilt, hope...

"Moth-... mom." Violet said right back. She quickly changed her face to be expressionless, like she often did unconsciously. 

They sighed again in unison, as Violet stood up from her chair, it scrapping on the floors. She started walking away when she thought the conversation was over, what else was left to say? Then heard her mother call out to her behind her. "Violet." She said a bit more sternly, seriously. "Look at me." So she did.

Turning around, she saw her mother standing up, the chair also scrapping slightly quieter across the floor, and now looking at her. Violet saw for the first time how tired she truly looked; hunched over and with dark bags under her eyes. She looked worn and ready to give up. But there was a spark in her eye: relief... and reluctance. Of what?

Her mother started walking towards her, putting her hands on Violet's shoulders. "I know you want to see your friends again. And I am very glad you found people for yourself at the school. I will take you back." She put two fingers under Violet's chin and made her look at her. "I need to tell you something first. I-" she stopped herself, but looked to Violet expectantly.

"What's that?"

Her mother looked up to the stairway and gestured for Violet to follow, "Come with me." She started up the stairwell as Violet followed behind her hesitantly.

Leading Violet up the stairway and they start approaching the bathroom, Violet getting more worried by the second. But before her mother can put her hand on the dial, a blaring rings sends out. It's a phone.

Her mother reaches into her pocket, pulling it out and answering it without a sound. Violet can hear muffled speaking, seemingly monotone and static-y. Her mother's hand falls from trying to reach the doorknob as she ends the call and looks to Violet, who seems curious.

"It was your school. The woman named Lilly. We can head back now as you've been assigned a new room and a few classes have been switched up for you." Violet's eyes light up at that as she turns back to walk down the hall and get her stuff from her bedroom. She had seemingly forgotten about what her mother wanted to show her, excitement of going back overpowering.

Thought, to her dismay, her mother doesn't stop her. Biting her lip, she merely watched Violet's excitement as she goes to gather her stuff. She doesn't want to bring down her spirits, and even if Violet doesn't want to believe it, her mother saw her misery being stuck with her parents the last few days.

She opens the bathroom door as Violet's door closes, and opens the medicine cabinet. Grabbing two bottles, she takes a pill from each of them. She shudders at the oddity of still having to recently take them. But without much thought, she leaves the bathroom once more.

Instead, she slowly descends back downstairs to grab her car keys, knowing Violet would want to go see her friends immediately. As if on cue, she can hear Violet's ruckus from upstairs and the faint sounds of footsteps coming nearer.

Looking to the clock, it's only about 9:00am. It's still way to early for this.

* * *

 

 Like before it only takes a few hours to get there, still quite a ways away from the house. By this time, it would be lunch for people in the school. Evident with seeing a few stranglers eating their horrible school lunch in the courtyard, yelling and making lots of noise. None of the kids really seem to care about the strange care pulling up near the gate, barely sparing a glance even from the more curious students.

Her mother had gotten out of the car with her and said an awkward goodbye, both of them standing there, not quite sure what to do. Eventually, her mother experimentally opens her arms and Violet walks into them.

It would be their first hug in about 7-8 years, and their last for awhile.

But before any more words were exchanged, a loud screeching sound had quite their attention. The assistant who had called her mother, Lilly, stood their with her usual scowl on her face. It softened a big as she approached her mother, but it was still a cold expression that Violet involuntarily shivered from.

They spoke for a few quick minutes, a Violet had gathered her backpack from the back seat and was ushered inside the gates by Lilly, unable to say goodbye to her mother once more. She heard the distant sound of her mother driving away once more in her car, but at least now it was on better terms.

Violet smiled inwardly. Thinking about how their relationship had been repaired if just a bit. She had missed her mother, through all those years of resentment, and now she's sure her mother had missed her too. Maybe she would come visit her more, or at least talk to her more. Maybe it could finally work once more after so many years of separation and pain. She hoped.

* * *

Violet had barely gotten into the large doors of the main hall before she was essentially tackled by a bear hug initiated by Louis. She hugged him back for a moment, then playfully pushed him off, as he didn't seem to put off by it.

Calmly, her other friends had arrived and came to greet Violet nicer as Lilly rolled her eyes at them and walked off, touching Violet's shoulder to tell her to meet her later in her office for her schedule. Violet barely had time to reply an affirmative before Marlon's arm had wrapped around her shoulder, forcing her to turn around and face her friends.

With a faint annoyance of being trapped by Marlon's arm and a loud "Welcome back, Vi" being exclaimed in her ear, she still smiled at the sight of her friends. Her excitement of finally being back with them overpowered her urge to shove him off like she normally would. 

Unfortunately, or fortunately, a certain red head had noticed the change in Violet's behavior. As she shrugged off Marlon's arm instead of pushing it off, Ruby instantly took to her side and interrogated said girl, gazing intently at her. Violet looked down at her after she noticed Ruby standing next to her, eyes somewhat fearful when she received Ruby's piercing gaze.

"What?" Violet questioned her, who still didn't turn her eyes off her, "What are you looking at?"

The red head smiled at the disturbed Violet, avoiding the question and asked instead, "How was your vacation outta here?"

"Vacation..." Violet muttered sarcastically, silently to her amusement.

"It was fine. I guess. A few ups and downs but I'm back now." She answered instead, shrugging.

Louis took the initiative to intervene, "Aww. Did you miss us?" And to her reluctant, nearly imperceptible nod, a large grin spread across his face. He put his hands on his hips, "Look- our dear Vi missed us-"

"Yeah, yeah." She cut him off quickly, opting to change the topic, "What about Clem? Has she come back?" Little did she know, that was the wrong thing to ask with Louis standing there.

"Missing your girlfri-" Louis got cut off once more by a hard jab to the ribs by a glaring Brody, but the implied meaning was obvious to which Violet was quick to try and shut down. Unfortunately for her, she was blushing and pretty flustered, unable to come up with a response with prompted even more teasing later on.

Brody, wanting to aid Violet from the tyranny that is Louis's prying questions, she answered, "No. She isn't back yet. She only left like three days ago."

Violet's slightly fallen expression wasn't missed by her friends, though her expression turned curious just as quickly. "Oh. What about AJ? Did he go with her?"

The little guy was attached to Clem by the hip. At first, she hadn't realized it but only after a day of knowing her, he could easily tell it was a package deal, and whatever she went, so did he. Luckily, nobody seemed bother by this if they tried talking to one or the other.

"Nah. He tried but Clem and the staff wouldn't let him." Marlon mockingly, or maybe he just looked dumb enough to make it seem mocking, scratched his chin in thought, "He's having lunch with Mitch and Willy right now I believe. We were down there with him before we came up to meet you."

"Yeah. He's all depressed and shit. Missing his guardian." Louis looked somewhat bummed out by AJ's behavior, as they had time to bond while Clem was out. He didn't want to see him all sad, trying to include time into the group and form a relationship.

"They're like two peas in a pod." Ruby concluded, to which they all nodded thoughtfully.

Violet thought that maybe she should go down and say "hi" to him, try to get his mind off Clem. They were both missing her, and him most likely more than her. He felt bad for him, only a day or so after he arrived in a new area (which seemed to be a completely new concept to him) and he was already separated from his guardian, the person who was suppose to help and guide him.

Marlon remembered something, getting everybody's attention with an over-exaggerated "oh yeah! by the way" and unhelpfully replied, "Minerva should be back soon though. Tonight maybe." Violet felt herself uncomfortably shift at the statement.

Her others noticed her behavior change once again, and earned herself a few pitying looks and Marlon a few glares.

Violet concerned, blurted out, "Wait. What about Tenn and Sophie? I saw them leave with her." She remembered them being ushered into the room with Minerva as she and Clem were shoved into another room. She had only caught a glimpse and didn't hear the rest of the story as she had to leave. She had just assumed they went home with her.

Nobody spoke for a moment, then Louis stepped forward towards her, "They're still here. They seemed all messed up about her leaving, like AJ was with Clem, but they seem to be pretty alright. I think they're still up in their room, we haven't seen them around really."

Violet simply nodded and the discussion ended there. Well, the more serious part of it anyways, because as usual they were instantly back to their normal groaning-at-Louis's-bad-jokes and bantering. Though the thought of Sophie and Tenn, along with the situation with Minerva, still weighed heavily on Violet's mind for some reason.

Lunch was about to end soon, as they had spend more of their time talking and reuniting, and they all agreed to spend the last few minutes trying to get actual lunch before they're sent back to their final classes. They turned, intending to all walk out together, until Louis noticed Violet wasn't following them and stopped.

She stood frozen, tranced, as he walked back to her. The others noticed and turned back, all looking over their shoulder to watch Louis gently place his hand on her arm.

But like that, she snapped back to reality, glaring at Louis and shook his hand off her arm, walking forward to meet with the rest of them like nothing had happened. Louis stood there with a confused expression on his face, as well as the others, and she simply raised her brows at them and acting like everything was fine. They decided it was probably best to leave it alone as they walked out into the noisy courtyard.

Marlon, Brody, Louis, and Ruby turned in one direction that took them to the cafeteria while Violet faced another that took her to the dorms.

She had started walking off, not responding and waving a dismissive hand when Louis and Ruby called after her, giving a short response before she entered the dorms and left them behind.

Violet acted as if she was on a mission. She turned down the halls with calculated gaze, ignoring the stared of the girls who were in the halls and looked to her weirdly.

But she was on a mission. She wanted to go talk to Sophie, along with Tenn, about what happened. She felt the need to apologize or explain herself, or... she didn't know. Violet knew they didn't blame her, or Clem, as they were too damn nice for that. But she just wanted to get rid of this anxiety over this. After all, she just repaired a long lost relationship, what's another to her now? Violet owed it to them, especially after what happened a year ago.

A loud squeaking sound made her look up, as she realized she had made it to Sophie's dorm and had subconsciously opened the door. Her hand still on the doorknob, the door opened a crack.

Now or never.

Violet pushed the rest of the squeaky door open, registering the bright light that shone in through the blinds on the window. Markers and paper strewn all across the floor like always, and two drinks stood upon a nightstand.

A small cough. Violet looked down to meet the curious gaze of Sophie who had her brows raised and a confused Tenn who sat on the floor of the room. Life before, she was always speechless, and she cleared her throat before setting on a weak:

"Hi."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT NOTE: I will not abandon this fic unless I say so. Even if it takes a long time to update, I will come back or will tell you if it's discontinued.  
> Ok. Done. Finally.  
> Sorry for errors and inconsistencies, but sometimes I don't reread when I'm gone for awhile so I forget a few details. I might go back and change a few things or improve the chapters to fit better or have a better writing style. I'll warn you guys if I do do that, as there is no guarantee.  
> Be sure to tell me how I'm doing, as I appreciate all support and responses!  
> Happy readings!  
> -OLW out!

**Author's Note:**

> If you have recommendations or additions, tell me. I want to do something lighter right now because, dammit, Clem deserves to be happy now! Unless enough people like this, no guarantee of finishing. I wish all you who are coping the best as me, loving TWD and Clementine. Again, I have bigger and better ideas coming soon!


End file.
